


The Selection

by shadowglove88



Series: The Adept [11]
Category: Bones (TV), Fringe (TV), NCIS, Smallville, Supernatural, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Demons, Astral Projection, Bad Matchmaking, Banter, But you don't have to read that to read this, Companion Piece, Crossover, Crossover starts at chapter 6, Demons, Denial, F/F, F/M, False Identity, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Heartache, Magical Bond, Male-Female Friendship, Mental Instability, Mental Link, Multiple Selves, Multiple Universes Colliding, Protectiveness, Set after Jace Morgenstern's Uncharacteristic Struggle, Soul Bond, Tarot, Telepathic Bond, With The Mortal Vessel Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 11:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 74,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19004512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowglove88/pseuds/shadowglove88
Summary: Peter's gone, the Tarot Murders are still unsolved, and more cases are popping up, all draining her little by little. With no temporary Anchor and a team-up with some agents with their own secrets, the last thing Chloe needs is to have her bond start to fail. Just her luck. No stalling anymore. The Selection for Anchor has just begun whether she wants to or not.*This is also a slight crossover with my The Mortal Vessel series, and is set after the events of Jace Morgenstern's Uncharacteristic Struggle.





	1. Chapter 1

"It could be worse," Special Agent Lincoln Lee announced as Chloe slipped into his car and closed the door behind her.

"How so?" She wanted to know as she buckled herself in and grabbed the steaming cup of coffee waiting for her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he replied quickly before merging back into traffic. "I'm just saying, it could be Jared."

Chloe made a face as she sipped the warm beverage. She didn't know whether she agreed with Lincoln to be honest. Either way, catching a team member naked with another team member was awkward as hell, yes, but when the other team member had her face? Well, at least it let her know that Coyote hadn't been lying to her.

"Talking about Jared, he's going to be elated," Lincoln muttered.

"I thought he kind of had a crush on Tess?" Chloe asked in surprise.

"No, he just has a thing for anyone who wears a mini skirt, but he's definitely the kind of guy to forget all that in the face of Tesanne… Teanne? Tea?" He made a face. "What are we calling them?"

"How about Tess and Anne?"

"You have no imagination," he mourned.

She chuckled as she leaned back against the seat and aimed the hot air at her face, which was far too cold for comfort. "Can we not think about any of this for now? I mean, I'm kind of traumatized here."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Chloe covered her face with her free hand. "I don't know if I can look into their eyes after having accidentally seen what's under their clothes! Whenever I visit dad and Anne from now on I'm making A LOT of noise to make sure I don't EVER walk in on anything like that ever again!"

Lincoln eased into traffic and reached out to pat her head comfortingly. "There there."

She scrunched up her nose in reluctant amusement as she sipped her coffee in an effort to warm herself quicker. "Thank you. That makes it all better."

"I know. It's a gift." Returning his full attention to the road, Lincoln tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "Dean called earlier to gleefully report that Sam's still traumatized after having to deal with their first Wombat Eel."

"They're so  _ugly_." Chloe pulled a face. "Are the boys still pissy about the psych eval in two days?"

"Yep." Lincoln, of course, was grinning as he said this. He was in charge of most aspects of "Project Nomad", he wasn't supposed to be, not at first, but after the first two weeks of Chloe spreading herself thin between the (still unsolved) Tarot Murders, Project Nomad, Project Wonderland (figuring how to get Anne back to her timeline), and all the other cases popping up, Lincoln had forced her to give him the reins to Project Nomad. His precise words had been: "Do you have a death wish?". He'd also forced her to delegate primary responsibility of research on the Tarot Murders to Anne, had (easily, apparently) convinced Vance to lend them McGee part-time to assist her, and had somehow gotten Tess working the new cases that were popping up with them. "But, like I told them before, this is a condition set by the President himself. They have to receive mandatory psychiatric evaluations every couple of months. No ifs, ands, or buts."

Relieved at the fact that she didn't have to directly handle the boys' (or their father's) annoyance, Chloe chuckled, yet the sound choked as her nose began to bleed.

"Glove box." Lincoln hurriedly directed her towards it.

Opening it, Chloe yanked out the kleenex box and pulled out some tissue, which she brought to her nose. "You always have Kleenex  _everywhere_."

"Yeah, well, it's not like it's not going to get used," he muttered under his breath.

She sent him a side glance. "You're still annoyed with me, aren't you?"

"What could ever give you  _that_  idea?" He mumbled.

She eyed his fingers, which were basically banging on the steering wheel now. "Oh, no reason."

They stopped at a stop light and he took the opportunity to turn his suddenly unhappy gaze on her. "Do you  _want_  to die? I'm serious!  _Do_  you want to die?"

" _No_ ," she assured him for what felt like the hundredth time. "It's not  _my_  fault that I haven't met John Scott yet - he's been undercover on an assignment for crying out loud!"

"There are other options, he's just the one Peter picked," Lincoln informed her with a glare at the stained Kleenex. "Given the fact that option number five isn't working out, we need to broaden the search."

"Do  _you_  have someone you want me to go on a Compatibility Test with?" She asked curiously, because it sounded like he might.

Lincoln pursed his lips, clearly hesitant. "Yes."

Her eyes narrowed since his tone indicated that she wasn't going to be happy with his choice. "Who is it?"

He took in a deep breath. "Dean Winchester. Or Sam Winchester. Hell, even  _John_ Winchester! At this point I'm not really picky."

" _Lincoln_!" She groaned in utter frustration. "I've already told you—!"

"You told me we met Dean in some alternate universe and that that version of you had a child with him, and that Coyote said you, Sam and Dean were incredibly compatible." He reminded her of the night she'd gotten accidentally drunk and spilled sooooo much to him. "So why in the world are you not considering either as a potential candidate?"

"Because I don't feel it's appropriate! They're my  _very junior_ subordinates at work!" She nearly threw her hands in the air yet stopped herself seconds before she could accidentally splash her hot coffee all over the place. "It's like, harassment -  _sexual_  harassment! I've told you this before! I don't want to talk to you about this again!"

"Yeah? Well I don't want to see you dead! So  _deal_  with it!" He snapped back at her.

Her eyes widened as she pressed back against the seat. This was the first time Lincoln had ever yelled at her, and she felt, ridiculously enough, like a kid being scolded by an authoritative presence.

He groaned and covered his eyes with his face as he let out a deep, stuttered breath. "I shouldn't have yelled."

"The light's green," she noted softly.

Lincoln let his hand fall and put the car in drive once more. "Has Peter gotten in contact with you yet?"

"No. He hasn't. Not since the  _last_  time you asked." She scrunched up the bloodied Kleenex and shoved it into her jacket's pocket. "Peter's free now, Lincoln. I don't think we're going to hear from him again."

"I doubt that," Lincoln mumbled under his breath as he took a right. "I'm worried about you."

"I know." She did, and she appreciated it.

"Look, Dean and Sam are going to be coming in for their psyche eval," Lincoln sighed. "Just— _give it a chance_. Please."

Chloe stared at his face, at the worry there, and was floored to realize just how stressed he was about this. Sure, she knew he worried, but she'd never really thought he'd be this up in arms about it. "Okay. Fine. When Sam and Dean come in I'll test my Compatibility with the  _both_  of them. How about that?"

A small smile tilted his lips as he sent her a quick sideways glance. "Really? You'll do that?  _Really_  do that? Give it a fair chance?"

" _Yes father_ ," she chuckled softly, much like a teenager being coerced to do something she didn't want to. "I'll test them both. Happy?"

He grinned brightly. "Maybe."

Chloe took a long sip of her coffee to keep from grinning as well.

* * *

 

Leon Vance, Director of NCIS, stared down Special Agent Philip Broyles and contemplated what was being brought to him. While Chloe's "Fringe Division" was technically not under his jurisdiction, and she answered straight to the President and his innermost circle (most prominently the Secretary of Defense), she  _was_  working out of NCIS' headquarters. Plus, she came to him for advice, and he usually brought her the cases as they were sent to him (although this was slowly being rerouted to the cases being sent directly to her cases). Still, though, he still had to be considered important, an overseer, if Agent Broyles was coming to him.

"The Pattern." Vance raised an eyebrow as he eyed the man curiously.

"It's what the select few of us who are in the know refer to the strange happenings," Agent Broyles informed him. "We'd been tasked with an overt mission of identifying, investigating, and solving the expanding number of science-related crimes witnessed over the past few years."

"This is not a science lab, Agent Broyles," Vance announced as he tapped his fingertips together. "Nor are we scientists. We cannot help you."

"Maybe not NCIS, no," the other man agreed calmly. "But Special Agent Gibbs' special task force - I believe it is called the  _Fringe Division_  - can." He reached into his pocket and slid across proof of his high security clearance. "In too many of the cases we'd taken interest in, we'd found our access to the crime scene blocked, and our clearance level rejected. We thought we had an all-clear so to realize there was another team playing the same game but with better connections… we grew intrigued." He sighed. "Despite many times denying that the Fringe Division even existed, the Secretary of Defense finally told me the truth today."

"And why would he do that?" Vance wanted to know.

"Because at 0800 hours an airplane arrived at Boston's Logan Airport. It landed on autopilot, and there were no communications from the plane to the tower, no immediate signs of life within, and what we've discovered on board…" Broyles hesitated before he sighed. "The Secretary of Defense agrees with me in that it would be in the Nation's best interest for my task force, and the Fringe Division, to work together on this one."

Vance's phone rang.

"That will be someone from the Secretary of Defense's office to verify my story," Broyles replied.

Eyes narrowed on Special Agent Philip Broyles, Vance reached over and answered the phone.

* * *

 

"Ma'am," Tess began the second Chloe and Lincoln arrived. "I have to apologize for my unprofessional behavior. I'm here to work, to protect you, and I want you to know that my… arrangement with Anne will in no way compromise my mission."

"Should I even be here for this conversation?" Lincoln's voice squeaked, eyes wide in horror. He visibly wanted to be told he was being excused, but if Chloe had to suffer through this so did he. Plus, Tess did not seem to care that she was airing her business in front of him, so—.

"I know it is unorthodox, and you must feel oddly considering who and what Anne is to  _you_ —," Tess continued.

Chloe raised her hand to stop the redhead. "Honestly? You're both adults. Is it weird for me?  _Yes_. Can I handle it? Also, yes." She finally met Tess' gaze, although that seemed to be a fight for the both of them given they were both mortified. "Just, uhm, lock the bedroom door next time… and I'll start knocking from now own."

Tess' lips twitched as she nodded. "I can accept that compromise."

Chloe knew this was none of her business, and yet she couldn't help it as she leaned in closer, voice lowered. "You know she has to go back to her reality, right?"

Tess' smile dropped for a second before she nodded. "Yes ma'am, she and I had discussed the situation before…  _engaging_." She cleared her throat after having said that last word. "It's been mutually agreed that this is just, uh, fun. Nothing serious."

How in the world had things gotten to the point where she was discussing her alternate self's sex life with her friends with benefits? "Uhm, yeah, uh, good."

Lincoln looked like he wanted to pat Chloe's head consolingly once more.

A part of her wished he would, anything to distract from this moment and this conversation.

"Yes ma'am."

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Chloe?" The blonde raised an eyebrow.

Tess grinned. "It's hard to break a habit."

"Just, uh, try?"

"CHLOE!" Anne yelled as she flung open the Fringe Division's office door, looking very much flustered. "You need to get your butt in here."

"What's going on?" Chloe asked as she hurried to the alternate version of herself, but once she got close enough she saw that Vance and Jared were inside, but they were not alone. A man she'd never met before stood with a rigidity that screamed MILITARY. Her father, and most of the people she worked with, had this posture, one she couldn't hope to replicate. In fact, Anne and Peter (while he'd been here) were the only ones other than herself who didn't carry themselves in this manner.

"Chloe." Vance's expression was highly unhappy, which put her on the alert. "Meet Special Agent Philip Broyles. He leads a small task force that is, in his words, dedicated to identifying, investigating, and solving science-related crimes."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Special Agent Gibbs," Broyles held out his hand and shook hers with a very firm grip.

"Science-related crimes?" Chloe instead asked curiously. "Like, mad scientists running around wrecking havoc or, uh, quantum physics going awry?"

Broyles eyed her for a second before answering. "It's a little bit of both, actually."

" _Fascinating_." Chloe's eyes were wide. "You must have an interesting job."

"You say that as if  _we_  don't," Anne muttered as she joined Tess and a very silent, very blank-faced Jared.

There was a knock on the door.

"That will be my agent," Broyles announced.

Tess opened the door to reveal… Agent John Scott.

Chloe's eyes widened as she stared at him.  _Really_? He was working in the Scientific Anomaly Division (she wasn't sure what it's name was, but she was calling it that). She turned to look quickly at Lincoln to gauge his response, and his eyebrows were raised in obvious surprise. His gaze shifted onto her, those blues clearly asking if she could believe this, and when she shook her head subtly he bit back a a snort as he returned his attention to Agent John Scott.

"Special Agent Gibbs, this is Agent John Scott." Broyles introduced. "John, this is Special Agent Gibbs and her team."

Chloe accepted the hand John held out to her, and shook it. Had Peter known about John's 'undercover mission'? Was that why he'd singled him out as a candidate? So far so good, her skin hadn't crawled upon contact. That was always promising. Her gaze lowered to their hands and her gaze fell upon the faded ring of color around her finger which still linked her to Peter. Like always, she wondered whether he was okay. But, like always, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and concentrated on the situation, and the people, on hand.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." John flashed her a large smile. "Although, I'll have to admit, I've been annoyed with your team given the fact that they've case-blocked us more times than I like to remember." He chuckled he looked her up and down. "How old exactly are you, Special Agent Gibbs? This seems like a big responsibility for someone so young and unexperienced."

"John," Broyles warned.

Slipping her hand free, Chloe raised an eyebrow at Agent Scott. He might've been smiling, but the amusement hadn't quite made it to his eyes. One step forwards, two steps backwards. "Well, rest assured, Special Agent, that in any case in which the President and the Secretary of Defense deemed us the better fit, we not only met their expectations, we exceeded them, which is why we still maintain a higher clearance level than you do. Also, I believe it is common knowledge that it is rude to ask a woman her age. It would be like me commenting on your crows feet, the smudge of lipstick on your collar, the nauseating female perfume stuck to your clothes,  _or_  the hint of alcohol in your breath despite it not even being lunchtime as yet. It just isn't done as it isn't professional, and in this vocation we are nothing  _but_."

Jared did his very best to hide he snicker under the guise of a cough.

Tess and Anne exchanged surprised looks.

Broyles had a dead-ass blank expression on his face.

Vance? Vance was absolutely grinning for like two seconds before he schooled his face into neutrality.

Lincoln closed his eyes tightly and breathed out in despair. He very visibly was trying to keep from face palming himself.

John hitched up an eyebrow as he began to subtly wipe at his shirt's collar, no doubt to get rid of the evidence of a previous rendezvous. "I didn't mean to be rude. I merely meant to—."

She didn't know what he'd 'merely meant to', because at that moment her vision of his face blurred as information began to pop up between them, as if on a holographic computer screen. What had triggered this data upload? What was going on? This was different and a little disconcerting.

A buzzing sounded in her ear, drowning out every sound and leaving her in a perpetual state of white noise. She didn't care, it helped her to concentrate on the weird occurrence. What was going on? Windows popped up and minimized and logged out at random. Information clogged the screen before disappearing and starting again. It almost seemed like she was…  _glitching_.

 _How do I manually restart this_?

She clicked links, flicked other windows to the 'closed' side to try and close them, but as much as she got rid of more and more opened.

It took her three full tries of this before she suddenly realized she'd see the same picture repeat in each try. She tapped it and used her fingers to pull it larger in front of her, and when she did her heart sunk into her stomach. Panic suffocated her, it was hard to breathe, and she immediately turned to look for Peter, and yet, he wasn't here. He'd left. That alone made her panic harder as she slowly turned around only to suddenly find that this holographic screen completely encircled her. She wasn't able to see anything around her that wasn't that screen with that information.

_Peter!_

She tried to scream that name but found that nothing would slip passed her lips. Not a sound. Not even a whisper.

Chloe's hand raised to her throat.

_PETER!_

Something touched her and terror filled her as she twirled around and punched. She hit her mark, her knuckles  _hurt_. But she couldn't tell what it was, those screens were becoming more and more solid, leaving it near impossible to see passed them.

 _Help me!_  she begged, screamed in her mind since her mouth wouldn't utter a word.  ** _Please_** ,  ** _help me!_**

Suddenly something warm surrounded her. She didn't know what it was, unlike the previous one, this touch didn't fill her with terror. It was comforting, it was firm but if she wanted to she could break free. Chloe pressed her face into the warmth and practiced her breathing. Slowly but surely the information windows began closing themselves off, and remained closed. No new windows popped up on screen, no new info accessed. A few windows remained active though, and Chloe shifted so her chin was resting on the warmth, but her eyes were able to take in the remaining windows.

And then she saw it.

Green eyes widened as she gripped the source of warmth and turned to it… to find herself staring up into Lincoln's worried face. Her eyes widened even further to realize he was holding her, his arms around her body, his shirt and jacket covered in what was apparently her blood. "I'll get that dry cleaned," she promised him.

"What happened?"

Movement in the corner of her eyes caused her to catch a glimpse of John holding a handkerchief to his bleeding nose. Apparently that was what she'd punched. Great. As if this whole Compatibility Test hadn't already been going down the drain  _before_  the physical assault! "Anne, initiate Code: Princess pink."

"Princess pink?" Anne stuttered, and hastily began to look in her bag when Chloe confirmed.

"What sort of code is 'Princess pink'?" John wanted to know… seconds before Anne blew a handful of bright, glittery pink dust all over him. He erupted into coughs while trying to wave his hands around him… but not only couldn't he remove the glittery pink dust… it revealed something hidden to the naked eye. There was something wafting off of him, like a gas almost, but the gas itself formed sigils in the air.

" _No way_ , he's been hexed?!" Jared squeaked as he reached back and pushed aside a picture on the wall only to flip the light switch behind it. Immediately the room went dark before the black lights in the room came on, and when they did it showed what Chloe had hoped it wouldn't. Special Agent John Scott was  _covered_  in hexes.

"What the hell  _is_  this?" John asked as he looked all over his hands at the hex sigils.

"Who did you see before you came here? Who were you with?" Chloe turned to him, eyes narrowed. "Who does the lipstick belong to? Was it a guy or girl?"

"A  _girl_!" John Scott snapped. "Of  _course_  it's a girl!"

"Guys wear lipstick too you know, and they pull it off," Tess informed him in annoyance.

John Scott turned to look at her in horrified confusion.

"You sure it was a woman?" Chloe asked.

" _Yes!"_ He snarled.

Eliminating the males on the screen, Chloe watched the information and windows get closer together now that there were less of them. "We can eliminate the witches who do  _not_  have this sort of power. He got into this room. Passed the wards. That's some  _strong_  anti-detection wards."

"Director Vance, Special Agent Broyles, we need you to step into this area in here. It's protected and you'll be able to observe what is happening safely." Lincoln pressed a button and the supply closet glowed, revealing several protection wards hidden from sight up until that moment. As he led the two men towards the protected area, he turned to the others. "Tess, start the lockdown, we need to make sure that the effects of these hexes are localized on Special Agent Scott, and that he hasn't trailed it throughout the whole damned building!"

Pain began to build in Chloe's forehead.

"You say that as if I did this on  _purpose_!" John Scott snapped as he pointed a hex-ridden finger at Lincoln.

"Anne, work along with Chloe," Lincoln instructed, completely ignoring the other man. "We can't see what she's seeing, so work with the database we have so far and get us a visual so we're not in the dark. It's not half as full of information as hers is, but it's better than nothing."

"Yes sir!" Anne scrambled towards the adjacent computer room.

Chloe pressed the heel of her palm against her head to try and subdue the pain.

"Jared—-," Lincoln turned towards his friend.

"Already on it!" Jared circled around John Scott, phone out, recording the different hex symbols covering the man's body. "Hold your arms out and stay still. I need to map out every single hex that's visible on you to be able to run it through our Index."

"Index?" Agent Broyles could be heard asking Director Vance.

"I don't know what the Secretary has told you about the Fringe Division," Director Vance admitted gruffly. "But suffice to say Special Agents Gibbs is a veritable trove of arcane information, which we've been trying to compile in our own database. We haven't even managed to get 1% of it down, but it's still a very good start so that she does not have to compute them on her own."

"Compute?" Agent Broyles picked up on that one word.

John Scott doubled in front of Chloe, and it was only when he became one once more that Chloe realized he hadn't  _actually_  split into two people - but her vision was giving her problems. She blinked rapidly, desperately, John Scott once more split into two in front of her only to return to one. The room slowly circled, like a slowing down carousel, upsetting her stomach, which only added to her growing discomfort as the pain in her head grew.

Nausea grew in her stomach, bubbling. She pressed her free hand to her stomach, hoping to quell the storm, when suddenly it made it  _so much worse_.

Chloe bent over, unable to stop the bile that rose from her stomach and spewed from her lips.

And yet… it didn't hit the ground. Instead, she found herself gripping the side of the paper waste bin, a hand holding it tightly in place and getting splattered with bile. Embarrassment made her even sicker yet she couldn't stop herself as her body expelled the breakfast she'd had, and the coffee Lincoln had brought her earlier.

A warm hand rubbed circles against her back.

"Just let it out," Lincoln whispered as he leaned in closer.

She tasted metallic seconds before her knees gave out on her and everything went black.

* * *

 

"Lift the damned quarantine long enough for me to get through!"

Lincoln Lee was man enough to admit that Special Agent Gibbs  _Sr_  terrified him to no end. Not only was he Chloe's very overprotective father, but he was widely respected, had quite the notorious reputation,  _and_  his eyes told Lincoln that he'd gotten away with things no other Special Agent would've been able to. There was also no doubt in Lincoln's mind that when it came to Chloe - and Anne - Special Agent Gibbs Sr would murder in cold blood, no regrets. He knew that it was far from the smartest thing to get between the scary man and his daughter, especially when her section of the building was in lockdown and Anne had been careless enough to actually call and report Chloe's condition to their father.

And yet that was what he was in the middle of doing. He should probably start preparations for his own funeral, huh? Gibbs would no doubt murder him the second the lockdown was lifted.

"No." Lincoln took in a deep breath as he stared at the video call, at the furious expression on the man's face. "I'm sorry, Gibbs, I get that you're worried about her, but these are  _her_  rules. The hexes seem to not have infected the rest of the building, they only activated and started to spread once the infected individual came in contact with Chloe. We have to keep him, and everyone else here, in quarantine until either the hexes are removed or neutralized."

"Listen here Lincoln," Gibbs snarled. "My daughter is  _dying_. She—."

" _No she is not_." Lincoln glared at the man and then cleared his throat as he breathed in and out to calm himself. "Respectfully, sir, your daughter is too pigheaded to die. She's merely resting right now."

"The bond is breaking!" Gibbs snapped. "This is it! If you don't let me—!"

"This isn't it. When the bond between her and Lionel Luthor was absolutely breaking events happened, such as the barrier which came down over her and Peter." Lincoln pushed his glasses up higher the bridge of his nose. "She's pushing herself too hard, too fast, and she's weakening it, but it's still there."

"I need to be with her." Gibbs' voice was softer but not the fire in his eyes.

"I understand, sir, and I wish I could lift the lockdown for you, I really do." Lincoln let out a stuttered breath. "But Chloe drilled into us what we were to do should a situation like this occur, and while you _terrify_  me, I respect her wishes and expertise on this subject more." He took in a deep breath, almost scared to meet Gibbs' gaze. "Since she's unable to make sure that her rules are being enforced, I have to do so in her stead. And so, no matter how much you terrify me, you won't scare me into betraying your daughter like that. Sir." He gulped and forced himself to finally meet Gibbs' gaze.

The man was silent.

Pensive.

Oh god - Gibbs was planning his murder!

Gibbs gaze burned into his. "Don't let my daughter die in there, Lincoln."

"Of course not, sir."

The man looked older than he actually was as he sighed and lowered his head. "What can I do on this side to help?"

Unable to believe that Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was actually  _backing down_ , Lincoln cleared his throat as he hurriedly answered. "Can you get Sam and Dean Winchester in quicker? Chloe's bond isn't on its last at this moment, but it's definitely on the out. She needs to find a new Bonder, even if only another temporary one."

"What about Special Agent Scott?" Gibbs wanted to know.

"How did you know he was here?" Lincoln squeaked.

"Anne informed me the second he came into the room," Gibbs replied. "I got a text that read ' _OMG! Alt!Daddy! Number 5 is here_!'"

Lincoln ran a hand over his face. "He's the one who brought in the hexes which caused the lockdown." He peered through his fingers. "And, to be honest, even if he hadn't I don't think they're going to work out."

"How can you be so sure?" Gibbs wanted to know.

"He insulted her, she insulted him - and not in an Unresolved Sexual Tension kind of way - and then she clocked him. She might've broken his nose." Lincoln sighed heavily in memory of that.

"So… Sam and Dean?" Gibbs sounded unimpressed as he leaned towards the camera. "Are they  _really_  the next best thing?"

"They're strong Alpha Males. Sam's smart - he might be able to understand her Chloespeak, and Dean is definitely hardy enough to handle her physical challenges. Between the two of them one should hopefully prove adequate." Lincoln didn't know whether to tell this man that his daughter had hooked up with these men multiple times already - or, well, alternate versions of her had hooked up with alternate versions of them - and that there were alt!grandchildren fathered by  _both_  of them out there.

At the silence, Lincoln turned to find Gibbs staring at him in his blank, totally terrifying way.

"No one else?" Gibbs wanted to know. "Just John's sons?"

Lincoln made a face. Was this about that whole weird thing Gibbs and John had between them? Where they were friends yet seemed highly competitive? Honestly? Should that even  _matter_  right now?

"Forget I asked," Gibbs sighed and turned off the communication, obviously going to get Sam and Dean.

Lincoln eyed the now black screen. "Goodbye to you too, sir."

"Wow," a voice sniggered behind him. "You actually stood up to him."

Lincoln glanced over his shoulder and found Jared leaning in the doorway, arms folded over his chest. "Shouldn't you be—."

"I've uploaded the video of the runes into the system, it's running the check, I'll get a notification once it's processed them." Jared pushed away from the wall and closed the door behind him as he entered the room, separating them from the others. "Someone in their organization is a snitch."

"What?" Lincoln turned to fully face him.

"Oh come on," Jared snorted. "Frat boy over there coincidentally arrives with hexes that only trigger with contact from Chloe? The timing's too perfect for a last minute, covert meeting. Either he's in on it, or someone in his team is working for someone else with an interest in the Adept. Because the chances of some woman who is completely unrelated knowing that he was coming to see Chloe now is  _very_  unlikely."

"But there's the chance that that's exactly what happened," Lincoln reminded before he groaned. "Still, your theory isn't without merit."

Jared opened his mouth and closed it before he sighed. "It's not just this, I don't like this. This  _whole_  thing. Their group and ours being brought together, I…" He ran his hand down the back of his head.

"Well, there's been no reason to feel good about this given everything."

"You don't get it," Jared muttered as he turned to Lincoln. "I worked in the Strategies Department, okay? I  _know_  our government's strategies, and this? This is one! This isn't a team-up! This is a  _take-over_." He pointed to the other side of the room. "These people are being brought in, phased in, we're being  _merged_."

Lincoln pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "But Chloe isn't the Adept of Fringe Science."

"Maybe not technically, but she might as well be the Adept of Fringe  _everything_ ," Jared responded immediately. "They're bringing in Oversight, Linc. Mark my words. Things are going to change here. And not for the better."

"Let's just focus on the issues at hand, okay?" Lincoln wasn't dismissing Jared's worries though, they were just going to be put in the 'deal with tomorrow' pile. Right now they had a lockdown, a hexed agent, and an unconscious Chloe to deal with. "Once we've gotten this dealt with we can start asking questions."

Jared nodded. "And when we do, I've got a list of them."


	2. Chapter 2

" _Fascinating_."

Vance raised an eye at Special Agent Broyles, who, despite his words, had a very blank expression on his face. The other man stood in the "safe space" with Vance but was eyeing Special Agent John Scott as the man banged on the invisible walls keeping him in a prison in the middle of the room. As soon as Jared had switched on the blacklight and Tess had initiated the lockdown, the protective wards had zeroed in on John Scott and trapped him in a circle big enough for him to sit down comfortably within, and that's about it.

" _Magic_." Broyles' eyes narrowed. "Are we sure that this isn't just some branch of science we have yet to categorize?"

"Changelings seem scientific to you?" Vance wanted to know, a little shocked the guy was still a skeptic.

"I am not a scientist, but I refuse to believe that messing with certain genomes or something of the sort mightn't bring some sort of similar result."

"You want to explain ghosts scientifically?"

Broyles let out a deep breath, clearly unhappy with ghosts.

"Thought not," Vance muttered as he glanced away. "Don't get me wrong. I don't doubt that your team might've come across some interesting issues with the Pattern you told me about, but Fringe science and Fringe  _occult_  are completely different subjects."

"How useful is the girl if she's rendered unconscious with mere contact?" Broyles tilted his head, eyebrow raised.

Vance snorted and shook his head. He wasn't about to divulge the details of Chloe's condition, but given the man's ignorance he could understand the skepticism. "Without that girl this division would not exist."

Broyles eyed him with that damned blank expression, clearly realizing that there was something he wasn't being told, and yet he didn't pry anymore. Instead he clasped his hands behind his back and stood straighter.

Apparently he was going to merely watch from hereon out.

Good.

* * *

 

"Has she woken up yet?" The worried voiced piped up from the monitor.

"Not since the last time you asked." Anne glanced over at the clock on the screen while continuing to type on the keyboard. "Which was less than five minutes ago. Also, I've been at my computer the whole time. I obviously wouldn't know if she'd actually woken up."

"Yeah… but you're, like, a  _twin_ ," Abby muttered, clearly pouting from her office. "I figured you'd be able to, I don't know,  _feel_  when she did."

"Not a real twin," Anne reminded and then grinned when the computer highlighted one of the hex symbols. "Yes! Now, come on baby, find me the other ones!"

"But, you're more than a twin, you're the  _same person_."

Despite raising her gaze to eye the small screen showing Abby at her computer in her office, Anne's fingers continued to enter code into the system, trying to help the computer process the images and database quicker. "Not true. Chloe and I might be, at the core, the same, but in other ways we're completely different. And, considering the other versions of us she's told me about - we're all somehow different. I mean, two versions of us have kids already - that we know of! I can't imagine  _ever_  wanting kids!"

"But maybe you'd feel different if you got pregnant," Abby declared.

"Then there's also the whole Tess thing," Anne revealed with a shrug. "You should've seen Chloe when she walked in on us. I thought she'd die right then and there. I honestly feel  _so bad_. I mean, we were on her old bed for crying out loud!"

Abby, who'd been in the know about the unofficial couple, snickered. "I wish I could've seen that." She shook her head. "I feel so bad for feeling amused at that!"

"You should," Anne muttered despite the amusement in her own tone. "But that's what I'm saying. Chloe says there are other versions of us with girlfriends, and I definitely had conflicting feelings for Lana Lang - but she's never had any interest in another girl. There are little differences here and there. Plus, the Winchesters might appear in a  _lot_  of our other lives, but not  _all_. Again. There are variations."

Abby slumped back in her seat and flung her head back, staring up at the ceiling as she twirled around on her seat. "Buzzkill."

Anne's smile returned as she continued to type, the code picking up more and more hexes. This was great. The more symbols she managed to identify with the info they had on the system, the less stress Chloe would have to put her own system through. As it were, Chloe was being stupidly persistent.

How many times had Anne tried to convince her to take a vacation until they'd found her a Bonder? And yet, with the Tarot Murders still unsolved, and more cases coming in for them, Chloe refused to even listen to the request anymore. For the first time ever, Anne had understood everyone's annoyance with  _her_  in regards to her stubbornness. Chloe, like Anne, was an idiot who put the job before everything else. Now that she'd realized it, Anne swore that once she got back to her own time she'd lay off the intensity.

Ollie was right, she was going to work herself into an early grave. Chloe was too.

If only she'd—.

Anne gasped and brought her hand to her stomach as a stab of pain throbbed outwards from within.

Abby jolted up so quickly in her chair she nearly fell off. "What was that? Did you get a twin thingy?"

" _No_." Anne glared at Abby as she pressed harder against the feeling. "It's… it's something else."

" _What else_?" Abby narrowed her eyes.

Anne peered down at her stomach in confusion. She'd felt this pain before, but where and when?

And then it  _clicked_  right as the pain stopped.

Anne's eyes widened in shock. "Abby?"

"Yuh?" Abby asked.

A stuttered breath escaped Anne's lips as her gaze rose to meet Abby's. "I think I'm going to be pulled back into my own timeline… I think I'm going back  _soon_."

* * *

 

"So, you said your team would be meeting us today," Vance announced as he stood just as still and straight as Agent Broyles, arms clasped behind his back as well. "And yet only Agent Scott arrived."

"It's a small division," Agent Broyles replied coolly.

"Ah." Vance nodded as it suddenly made sense. "This is a merger, isn't it?"

Broyles took in a deep breath. "If so, I have not been made aware."

Vance shook his head as he too kept his gaze ahead of him.

What in the world was the Pentagon  _thinking_?

* * *

 

Everything was warm.

Chloe groaned as she opened her eyes to find herself lying on the sofa, Lincoln's jacket wrapped around her. Under the blacklight lighting the whole division she could easily see blood staining the jacket from where she'd continued to bleed after passing out. The idiot had given her his jacket even after she'd destroyed his shirt? Really?

A small smile touched her lips as she curled a little deeper into it, enjoying the warmth. She knew that there was a lot she needed to do - namely handle the hexed guy no doubt trapped in the other room - but the reason she'd been knocked out so easily was because she was run down. Chloe wasn't an idiot, she knew she was running herself ragged, and that with the bond between her and Peter dying she needed to take things easier - and she'd wanted to - but there were just too many responsibilities - too many things only she could do.

But she  _could_  take a couple of minutes more right now, so she did so, curled up on the sofa with Lincoln's stained jacket surrounding her in calming warmth.

She owed him a new suit.

A chuckle escaped her lips as she lifted the jacket to cover her face up to right under her eyes. It smelled like Old Spice and blood.

The door opened and Lincoln entered, wearing a different shirt and in the process of finishing up tying and tightening his necktie. Another shirt was flung over his shoulder. Was it the one with blood? If so, the blacklights weren't picking any up.

"You're up!" Lincoln exhaled deeply as he reached down and pressed his cool hand to her forehead. "And have no fever. That's good." He grinned, his teeth showing up brightly under the blacklight. "Now maybe your father won't kill me for denying him access."

"You stood up to my father?" Chloe asked in surprise as she sat up, still clutching the jacket around her.

"Yeah. It was terrifying." He sat down next to her and shook his head as he chuckled. "Here. It was the best I could find considering we're in lockdown." He whipped the shirt off of his shoulder and held it out to her.

It was only when she took it from him and smelt Old Spice that she realized it was one of his shirts. Considering he had another new one on as well… "How many changes of clothes do you have in your office?"

His grin turned sheepish. "I plead the fifth."

Shaking her head, Chloe finally put down his jacket and made her way to the small bathroom in this room. She kept the door ajar so light could seep in, and hid behind it in the darkness as she stripped off her blood-covered shirt. "First I take your kleenex, then your clothes. What's next?"

There was a pause. "Jared would have an answer to that that I'm far too classy to use."

That was not surprising, not knowing Jared and his cheeky, flirty sense of humor.

"I've asked your father to bring Sam and Dean quicker," Lincoln announced after a moment's silence. "Bring them into this investigation. Work with them. Do the test."

Chloe paused in the middle of buttoning the shirt on. She sighed and nodded as she continued to button it up. "Okay."

There was another pause. "That's it? No complaints?"

"I told you I'd comply with your wishes on that front, didn't I?"

"Yeah… but I still expected some bitching." There was a pause. "Then again, this  _is_  the Winchester brothers we're talking about. Not much to complain about there."

"Are you coming out to me?"

"If you weren't my superior officer I'd have have some really choice words for you right now."

Laughing, Chloe finished buttoning up the shirt before tying the bottom half up around her hips. "Noted." She emerged from the bathroom and leaned against the door. "So, what's the situation?"

"Vance and Boyles are in the Broom Closet of Protection, which means neither of them are infected otherwise it would've reacted," Lincoln replied immediately as he stood. "Anne is working on identifying as many of the sigils Jared captured as possible, Agent Scott is unhappily detained within the Bitch Trap, and Tess is going through our database to try and figure out who might've hexed him, while Jared is virtually retracing Agent Scott's steps today just in case the hexes were picked up by entering a warded place and not placed on him by a person."

"That's, wow… why am I around again?" Chloe joked, very impressed.

"It might have something to do with you being a walking, talking, encyclopedia of weird?" Lincoln chanced a guess. "One who has immeasurable occult knowledge stored away in her noggin, information which is only accessible to her?"

"You know, that  _might_  be it," Chloe admitted.

"Look, I'm not trying to do your job," Lincoln informed her as his smile fell and he took in a very deep breath, looking very tired all of a sudden. "But let me make it that much easier for you, okay? You do too damned much, especially when they're things that can easily be delegated. So you concentrate on being all…" he wiggled his fingers at her, "and in return, trust me to take care of all the background stuff."

"Really?" She wiggled her fingers back at him. "That was the best you could come up with? I'm not a  _witch_. Those are  _magic fingers_."

He snickered. "Stop complaining and just say you'll let me help!"

Chloe eyed him in silence for a couple of seconds before she hugged herself and nodded. "You're the only weirdo who wants  _more_  work, but  _fine_."

Lincoln grinned brightly as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Good! Now. What's next? You order, I do."

"Let me see, hopefully I'm not glitching so much." Chloe flung her hand upwards, the holographic screen jumping up between her and Lincoln as she did so. "Oh, good, while I was out the computations were still going on. I was worried they would've stopped."

"What do you  _mean_  'glitching'?" Lincoln wanted to know as he came closer.

"It was weird, but it's stopped. It might've been because of the hexes or because of Peter's and my bond being worn thin," Chloe admitted as she grimaced. "But things seem to be working so far. I still haven't finished searching for the female witches capable of getting through the wards I put up, but some results have come up. Although, it could be someone who isn't actually in my records."

"How would they be able to stay off the grid so to speak?"

"I'm trying to access the collective knowledge stored in the crystal skulls which were downloaded into mine, but my predecessors might've never come across this witch, or she might be new," Chloe responded. "It would be easier, of course, if every bit of knowledge was easily accessible, or accessible at all, but until I get a permanent bonder that's impossible. Even then, there'll most probably be a nightmare period in which my mind tries to adjust to the changes."

"The sooner we get you to the Permanent Bonder stage the better," he muttered as he began to pace. "You know what I find weird?"

"What?" She asked as she moved the witch search to the side and opened up another window to try and search a separate search on female witches whose last known locations were near or around DC.

"If she's such a strong witch, why are her hexes doing nothing but being there? Or causing you to glitch? I mean, they were on him when he entered the building. He could've caused  _so much damage_ , but they only became active when he touched you, and even then, it didn't really do anything to you except  _maybe_  make you glitch… a  _little_."

Chloe's eyes widened. "Lincoln, you're a genius."

"Sure." He stopped pacing and turned to face her. "But  _why_?"

Minimizing both previous searches, Chloe's fingers typed on the holographic keyboard only she could see. "Do you have pictures of the hexes themselves on you?"

"No." He grabbed his phone and began texting into it. "But I've just asked Jared to send them to me. What do you think their purpose is? You obviously have a theory."

Chloe pressed enter and stood there waiting, her fingers burning and itchy with the desire to do something, so she rubbed her hands against her pants. "I don't want to jinx it… pun intended."

"Your puns are so terrible," Lincoln bemoaned as he made his way across the room and pulled open a drawer. "Think fast!"

"Huh?" She turned towards him and barely managed to catch the thing he'd thrown at her. "What the hell, Lincoln?"

He ignored her as his phone beeped.

Chloe looked down at the slinky in her hands and then looked up at him. "You have the  _weirdest_  things stashed all around this Division," she whispered as she began to play with it, the movement occupying her hands and allowing her mind to concentrate on the pictures as they popped up on the holo screen. "Do we have a—?"

"Already on it," Lincoln declared. "Any of these look familiar?"

She peered over her shoulder to find that he'd not only received the pictures of the hexes, but had wiped off the dry eraser board and had already started drawing them on it for her. "You read my mind." Chloe shifted around, and the holographic screen shifted with her, allowing her to begin matching certain hexes. She wasn't able to find and categorize them  _all_ , but she saved the ones she didn't recognize for later, and once she had all the ones deciphered that she  _could_  find…

"You're right," she whispered in shock as she flung her arms out, removing the holographic screen from around her and allowing her to look clearly at Lincoln and the dry eraser board.

"Sure," Lincoln repeated, accepting the compliment, red marker still in hand. "But  _how_?"

"These hexes aren't hexes, not really, not in the  _true_  sense of the word." Chloe shook her head, unable to believe it. "They're glamoured."

" _Huh_?" Lincoln blinked as he put the cap back on the marker. "You mean someone's  _faking_  hexes? Why would they do that?"

"To accomplish  _this_. We're in a quarantine, Lincoln." She turned to him in shock. "This is a distraction meant to keep us all locked up in here while whoever did this does something out there they don't want us knowing or interfering in."

* * *

 

Sam and Dean had gone up against demons and monsters, and yet Special Agent Gibbs was probably one of the most terrifying beings they'd ever had to deal with. The fact that he'd served with their father in the Marines was a little intimidating considering their father respected him, and reluctantly looked up to him, apparently Gibbs had saved his ass more than a couple of times. And other than that, well, the man was scary in and of himself. He was definitely one of those men who would do whatever needed to be done to get something done. Case in point, when Dean had refused to leave the Impala and go with the agents who'd had a plane waiting on them to get the brothers to HQ quicker… Gibbs had shot him full of tranqs.

Two of the agents were now driving the Impala, and Dean was snoring in his seat on the plane. Sam sat opposite Gibbs, who clearly was staring Sam and Dean down, as if trying to see into their soul and ready to kill them with his bare hands if he didn't like what he saw. Sam wasn't scared of flying, but damn it, he was scared right now.

"Do either of you have sexually transmitted diseases?" Gibbs broke the silence to ask the most random question ever.

" _Excuse me_?" Sam squeaked.

"What about your past relationships?" Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he trained that gaze on Sam like a heat seeking missile. "How did they end? Were they amicable or messy? Was there cheating involved? Did  _you_  cheat?"

What in the world was going on here? "Uh, sir, I, uh, I've only really had one girlfriend in my, uh, life." Sam swallowed down his nervousness at this weird topic and sat up straighter in his seat. "I loved her, I was faithful to her, I planned on marrying her." He could feel that thick sadness he'd never fully heal from whenever he thought of Jess. "She was killed by a demon." He met Gibbs' gaze head-on. "It is why I got back into hunting, sir."

Surprising empathy entered Gibbs' eyes before he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to hear that, son." His gaze shifted to Dean, clearly unimpressed. "What about Sleeping Beauty over there?"

"If I'm being perfectly frank, Sir, he seems to have only had one real girlfriend too, a journalist, and she dumped him when he told her he hunted the supernatural." Sam still couldn't believe Dean had dated Cassie and had been so in love as to break their cardinal rule. "Other than his relationship with her, though, he's been a total manwhore."

Gibbs looked at Dean distastefully. "I see."

Honestly though, what was with these questions? "May I ask why you're asking?"

Gibbs' gaze turned on him, his face expressionless. "No." And with that he peered down at his watch and then out the window.

Sighing, Sam got more comfortable in his seat.

This short flight was going to be a long one.

* * *

 

"Do I really need to have this?" Agent Scott asked as he eyed the pendant hanging around his neck.

"They mightn't be real hexes, but they've made me glitch, so  _yes_." Chloe slapped his hand when it reached for the pendant. "Don't touch it. Until you're decontaminated you should try not to overload it with everything." She turned to Agent Broyles, who was outside of the Broom Closet of Protection now that the quarantine had been lifted. "I'm going to call my father to let him know that I'm okay and he can dial down his no doubt  _monumental_  scariness. Once I'm done doing that, you need to tell me about this case you came to share with us. Because whatever it is, I have a feeling it's connected to this breach."

* * *

 

Anne had been left with Jared trying to narrow down the search as to who could've done this. Agent Scott had reluctantly given up the name of his paramour, and had then been very disconcerted to find that there was no actual record of her. Whoever Serinda Dove was, that was definitely not her real name, which meant that nothing he knew about her was actually true either. It definitely hurt his ego to realize that he'd been used, and he'd been huffy ever since then. Anne was relived that he and Broyles were gone with Chloe, Lincoln and Tess to see this mysterious airplane.

She didn't like Agent Scott, not at all. Why in the world had Peter picked him as a candidate? Because, honestly, there was no chemistry at all there.

Her phone beeped, and she glanced down at Abby's message. "Apparently Tony and McGee have started a bet."

"About what?" Jared groaned as he twirled his seat to face her.

"John Scott. They recognized him when he came in." Anne made a face. "Apparently neither like him and are betting what part of him Chloe will break next."

"They have no imagination," Jared bemoaned. "Chloe's gonna be on her best behavior with him unless he messes up, and if he messes up again  _Linc_  will get him. With how worn out she is right now he's going to be overprotective."

"He's really got this whole mama bear thing going," Anne chuckled as she returned her attention to the computer.

"You have no idea."

* * *

 

Chloe didn't know who was being more overprotective right now, Lincoln or Tess. It was in completely different ways and for different reasons, but the two of them did not think her going into the airplane was a good idea (hazmat suit or not) and they were fighting her on it teeth and nails. Tess was in charge of her protection and kept reminding her over and over again that she'd been threatened with all sorts of horrible punishments should anything happen to Chloe because she was "damnably stubborn". Lincoln kept acting as if her failing bond with Peter was some sort of autoimmune disease (which, to be fair, it kind of was) and he did not like her chances of going on that plane and 'catching her death'.

But as Chloe stood in First Class, staring down upon the passengers, her team and their disapproval were the last things on her mind. "How long have they been like this?"

"We don't actually know," John Scott sounded pissed to admit that as he eyed the passengers as well. "We know that it landed on autopilot 0800, but we have no clue at what point of the flight this happened. And, as you can see, we can't exactly ask them."

"Have you tried removing them from their cocoons?" Chloe asked what she knew was a stupid question.

Instead of answering, John led her towards the bathrooms and opened one of the stalls to show a man in his forties, clearly dead, his body a horribly purple color. "Asphyxiation. It happened as soon as we breached through that gelatinous shit surrounding them. We couldn't save him."

"What have your analysis of his samples come back saying?" She wanted to know, her gaze on the dead man's agonized expression.

"We're unable to remove samples from this plane, it's all highly contaminated, as I'm sure you figured from the multiple levels of quarantine and decontamination chambers we had to get to the plane itself." John made a face. "Thing is, there are ways of checking for contaminants, and yet the ones we've tried have come up saying there's nothing wrong. We've also tested the water, the food, hell, we even tried the air in the emergency masks… and yet everything's come back clean. Which, obviously, can't be right. I mean, look at the Pod People here!"

That was something Tony would've said, and made her like John a little more, but only a very teensy tiny bit.

"If you're so sure it's not the air, then why are we wearing these?" She motioned to her hazmat suit.

He flinched. "We might be missing something, and sugar, I ain't risking turning Pod Person."

' _Did he just call her 'sugar'_?' Tess could be heard gasping in horror in her ear, the redhead and the others able to see and hear everything via the cameras and microphones on the suits.

"Don't call me that," Chloe muttered, disliking him a little bit more. "Why haven't you started a makeshift lab somewhere here? Move the passengers all to Business and Economy, and leave First Class as the testing site."

"We don't know what's causing this, bringing in dangerous chemicals could cause a reaction which could only make things worse."

' _Chloe,'_  Lincoln spoke in her ear. ' _I think Scott's girlfriend was spotted by the east gate. She tried to get in with his credentials but managed to get away before security could arrest her_.'

Chloe turned a glance in Agent Scott's direction to see a muscle ticking in his cheek. Obviously his ego was incredibly bruised and he wasn't sure how to handle being used. "At least we know she hasn't managed to get on board yet and get whatever she's after."

' _Tess is getting CCTV footage and is going to send it to Jared and Anne so they can try and run facial recognition_ ,' Linc informed her. ' _Maybe if we can figure out who she truly is, we can figure out what's going on in there and how to stop it.'_

"And how she's connected to it all," Chloe agreed as she turned and noticed one of the passengers. Her expression scrunched up as she moved closer towards the visibly pregnant woman. "The quandary currently discombobulating me, and which should be of greatest preeminence, is whether the metamorphic transmutation can be terminated, suspended, or, in the best case scenario, reversed."

The silence was deafening, both in the plane and in the intercom.

Chloe gulped, nausea and mortification beginning to hit as realization settled over her. She was doing it. She'd been doing so much better lately, and yet here she was, descending into the horrifying Chloespeak she hated and no one else other than Peter understood. And yet Peter wasn't here, and the look John was giving her proved she seemed to be talking a foreign language.

A holographic window only she could see popped up with what she'd said. It was visibly, desperately, trying to run diagnostics on the sentence to find a more fitting translation and yet all the answers were coming back encrypted and unreadable.

 _Don't lose yourself in the data, concentrate, dumb it down. You can do it_.

"Alchemically, if we're able to decipher the variables responsible for the unremitting mutagen currently transmuting the passengers, I might be able to create an algorithm which might generate permutations on not only how the pathogen was introduced to the environment, but how to cease its effects, or at least keep it from spreading."

Silence.

More goddamned silence.

She fought a panic attack, almost scared to look at John Scott, and when she did she definitely wished she hadn't. He wasn't looking at her as if she was speaking a different language, he was looking at her as if she was insane and he was scared she'd turn feral on him.

Mortification and despair filled her as she forced herself to focus on her breathing.

Windows of information popped up desperately, beginning to fill her vision again, all running simulations and diagnostics, all flashing with error and warning signs. Somewhere, an alarm was wailing loudly, almost deafeningly.

' _What do you need to do that?'_  A voice asked in her ear so softly she was surprised she not only heard it, but understood it so clearly.

She let out a heavy, shocked breath, her own voice shaky and squeaked when she asked: "What?"

' _What do you need to create and run your algorithm, or algorithm_ ** _s_** _, because just one can't possibly determine all that, can it?'_  Lincoln asked in confusion before he paused. ' _Chloe, why's your breathing labored? Your vitals are showing as elevated. The stress markers spiked ridiculously, too. What's going on?'_

The alarm was getting louder, painfully loud.

"Jesus Christ, she's infected!" John Scott yelled as he stumbled back away from her. "She's bleeding out her ears and eyes!"

Or at least that's what she thought he said. It was really hard to make out any noise over the overwhelming wail of the alarm.

The band around her finger emitted a shocking spike of pain.

No.

This wasn't what was on the plane.

This was the bond.

Her chest hurt.

It tightened.

She couldn't breathe.

 _I can't breathe_!

Desperately she fought with her helmet before finally yanking it off, breathing in deep gulps of air.

 _I can breathe_.

She closed her eyes and leaned hard against the bathroom door's wall.

The fact that she might've just inhaled lungfuls of deadly pathogen didn't cross her mind until two seconds later.


	3. Chapter 3

"I am  _ordering_  you to stay outside of the plane." Chloe grit her teeth as she leaned hard against the wall. She was seated against one of the emergency exit doors, her hazmat suit completely off and to her side. John had left the plane when it'd been announced that his female friend had been apprehended and was now in custody. He was in charge of interrogation while Tess was checking out the building where she'd been arrested in, and that left Chloe alone on board the plane with the currently transmuting passengers, who were all within that stasis - that makeshift cocoon.

" _Fine_." Lincoln didn't sound too happy about it, but he was a good agent, and he followed orders - most of the time at least. "But your father's back with the Winchester boys and I'm sending one in with you. We both know what happened to you was Anchor related and not whatever this is."

"I'm not risking it by coming out," she mumbled, knowing what he wanted to say. "But sure, if you feel it's appropriate for me to conduct a Compatibility Test with one of them while in the middle of an infested horde, be my guest."

"You're not talking me out of it." His voice was grim and determined. "So get your head together. What happens if the dome comes down over you and you're just stuck there with those people? You'll  _die_. So quit the attitude because I'm just trying to save your damned life!"

Once more, the rebuke hit, hard. She lowered her head and took in a deep breath. "You're not supposed to talk to your superior officer like that, Special Agent Lee."

There was a moment, and then a softly hissed: "I'm not speaking to my boss, I'm speaking to my  _friend_."

She gulped. Her eyes wide. He'd never called her his friend before. Why did this shock her so much though? They were friendly, weren't they?

"Which one of you is better at interrogation?" Lincoln asked, confusing Chloe for a second before she realized he wasn't talking to her. "Good. Then go to Building H. There's an agent in there already interrogating the suspect, but he's emotionally compromised - it's his lady friend. I need you to make sure he's not being manipulated,  _again_. And you? Get suited up." He then cleared his throat and seemed to be addressing Chloe again. "You're on." And with that he ended the transmission.

Sighing, Chloe raised her hand and peered at her finger, at the bond between her and Peter, watching it slowly fade more and more. Every day the design was a little less defined, and she had to fight the desire to cry as she brought her hand to her chest. How ironic was life? She'd detested her first Bonder, had wanted nothing to do with him, and yet despite the fact that she'd not only come to depend on Peter, but care for him far more than she wanted to admit - she couldn't stay with him.

Like every day since he'd gone, she wondered what Peter was doing now. A part of her hated him for not getting in contact with her since he'd left, the other part was so grateful, because she didn't think she'd be able to stay strong if he did. And in his own way Peter was trying to save her life, to force her - just like Lincoln - to finally find a permanent Bonder. Her life would be so much easier if she could finally, for once, have a Permanent Bonder who she actually  _wanted_. And yet, while she knew this had to happen, and she'd take the first truly compatible candidate, that didn't mean that she didn't wish she didn't have to.

 _Stop being so damned pitiful. People are dying around you right now_.

Pressing a kiss to her fading design, Chloe sighed and pushed up to her feet as she made her way towards the closest passenger. She activated the holographic keyboard and pressed buttons in the air only she could see, capturing video and photographic evidence to place in her mental storage for later categorizing.

The search she'd started after realizing she'd contaminated herself was still running, and so far nothing was coming up in her database as a similar occurrence. Thing is, she might very well have this information stored within, but with how rickety and undependable her mind was she couldn't trust that she'd actually be able to find and access it.

 _This is why you need a permanent Bonder_.

Not that she hadn't known that already.

The seal over the door was opened momentarily before someone entered and sealed it back behind him, the tall guy in hazmat. A heavy looking bag rested against his hip, its strap over his shoulder.

"I'm surprised they found one for your height," Chloe admitted as she sent a backwards glance at Sam Winchester.

He snorted as he came closer. "I'm surprised Lincoln's not in here."

"He's my second in command," she informed him as she returned her attention to the mucous covering the boy in front of her. "If anything happens to me he has to be safe."

"I can't believe you took off your helmet," Sam mumbled as he lowered the back to the ground and began unpacking it, revealing a small makeshift lab.

"I thought they didn't want to risk some sort of chemical reaction with whatever's in here?" Chloe eyed the contents curiously.

"Linc pulled rank." Sam glanced up at her from what he was doing. "They don't like him much out there right now."

Concerned that Lincoln was making enemies out there, especially considering that if anything happened to her he was the one who'd assume command, Chloe sighed and was about to start the intercom to tell Lincoln to cool off, before decided against talking to him right now. Not only wouldn't Lincoln appreciate the topic of the conversation, but he'd be annoyed that she was using time on this Compatibility Test to talk to  _him_  instead of Sam. And he'd be right. She owed it to everyone to give this a real try. And it wasn't as if either Winchester brother was unattractive. Hell, different versions of her had ended up with one of them, or both of them. So honestly, what was her problem?

"Is whatever this is aggravated by the presence of STDs?"

The question caught her so off guard Chloe nearly tripped and fell face-first into a passenger. She only just managed to stay on her feet as she turned towards the younger Winchester brother. " _What_?"

Confusion twisted on Sam's expression as he stopped mid-unpacking. "On the flight over your father grilled me on Dean's and my… romantic and… sexual… history." He cleared his throat. "He was particularly interested in whether we had any sort of communicable disease, but wouldn't elaborate as to why, so I figured it might have something to do with this case."

She didn't want to palm her face, but damn it, she couldn't stop herself. Trust her overly protective father to make an awkward situation even more awkward. "It doesn't have anything to do with the case." Removing her hand from her face, Chloe sighed so heavily her shoulders shook. "Sam, I'm going to be completely truthful with you right now, not only because I do not like fallacies, especially not if I'm the one perpetuating them, but because otherwise there is a very uncomfortable question as to consent. And consent is of tremendously crucial importance to me." She hadn't been given the option of consent, she wouldn't steal that choice from someone else, not even if to save her own life.

Sam straightened, impossibly tall, his face blank of all expression. "Okay."

Clearing her throat, Chloe tried to straighten and stand tall too, but she was just too short compared to him for it to really even be noticeable. "My father asked you those very intrusive personal questions because he doesn't want me to contract anything from either of you."

The confusion was back, this time tinged with embarrassment, his voice squeaked when he asked: "Why does your father think you're sleeping with Dean and I?"

"He doesn't." She breathed in once, twice, and tried again. "Sam, we previously established during our first  _official_ meeting that I am an Adept and that you aren't very versed in that topic. But given the fact that you appear the more scholarly of your family, and the fact that Dean appeared educated on the title and function - as well as your connection to, and access to - both your father's and Bobby Singer's fountains of information, I'd assumed that you'd already have an idea, no matter how vague, as to what could be occurring in this particular instance."

She didn't even try to dumb it down. Sam was smart. He could get it. He  _could_. He  _had_  to learn to read between the lines if he could even be considered as a possible candidate.

Sam was silent, his face twisted in confusion as he obviously played over her words once, twice, three times, and then he blinked as his head tilted slightly to the side. "But you already  _have_  a Bonder - Peter."

Relief flooded through her, surprising herself with just how strong it was. "Temporary."

"He's a  _temporary_  Bonder?" Sam's eyes widened in absolute shock and he tried to run his hands over his head only for the helmet to stop his hand. "So… information on the Adept is  _really_  limited… but I know enough that a Bonder is not only important but  _vital_. So why would—?" His eyes widened even further, and his lips parted, his voice once more cracking in embarrassment. "Are Dean and I candidates to take over from Peter?"

Chloe leaned against closed bathroom door and made a face. "Not if you don't want to be."

Sam eyed her curiously, the situation clearly settling somewhere deep in his mind. "What happens to you if we don't want to be?"

She gulped deeply, fighting back the nervous nausea. "That's not really your problem."

"It can't be good." Sam was mumbling to himself. "Otherwise your father and Linc wouldn't be this testy." His blue/green eyes lowered down to meet hers. "So what is this? Did they just send me in because I got chosen or something?" His heckles were slowly rising. "They weren't even going to tell me? What happens next? How—?"

"Calm down." Chloe raised her hands in a stopping motion. "This is just a Compatibility Test."

"Test?" His eyes narrowed warily. "Is that the real reason he sent in this makeshift lab?"

" _It's a freaking date!_ " Lincoln hissed in their ears, apparently having been eavesdropping on the whole conversation. " _I thought you were supposed to be the smart one_."

"Lincoln!" Chloe snapped, fingers to her earpiece. "Get off of this line!" When she heard nothing she chose to believe he'd obeyed, and returned her attention to Sam. "He's right though. You aren't just shoved in and chosen. It's a—it's more complex like that. You and your brother are merely  _potentially_  able to be considered as a candidate for Bonder. Lincoln and my father insisted to use this opportunity to see whether you would even be eligible for consideration because my bond with Peter is weakening every day and I need to find his replacement before that happens." She raised her hand to show him the faint design around her finger. "There've been innumerable candidates who have been disqualified instantly. You and Dean merely check certain boxes which need checking in potential candidates. No one is forcing  _anyone_."

"Why?" Sam wanted to know, still very visibly wary, but a bit more curious. "What I mean is, what disqualified the others that we've passed so far?"

"Well, to the best of our knowledge, you do not possess any sort of mental illness in your family," Chloe admitted. "It is one of the most important qualifications." Her gaze lowered to her design and brushed her fingertips against it. "It's also the reason why Peter wouldn't have been able to be my Permanent Bonder even if he'd want to, which he didn't." She gulped and looked back up at Sam, fighting to keep her face from showing her true feelings. "And you're both physically capable, which is another necessity. Not only can I become mentally challenging, but physically as well."

"So we're both physically strong, and don't have a history of mental illness, okay." Sam processed that. "What's the date part about?"

She was really going to have a chat with Lincoln later. "We're testing not only physical compatibility, but pheromonal and other factors as well. Some candidates who passed the first two checks were immediately disqualified by the mere fact that their natural musk started a very unfavorable chain reaction which included, yet wasn't limited to hives, elevation sickness, claustrophobia or even acute asthma-like symptoms. Or, in other instances, their voice triggered migraines, states of audio dissonance… or the merest touch induced very physical, very abrupt, and uncontrollable upheaval."

There was a silence.

Confusion clearly there.

" _They basically made her sicker than food poisoning ever could by just being near her_ ," Lincoln explained helpfully in their ears.

" _Oh for the love of—_!" Chloe snapped and pulled out her ear piece in agitation, putting it on one of the empty chairs.

Sam frowned at her. "This won't work."

She nodded and swallowed, more than willing to accept his refusal to participate. "Understood. Like I said, no one will force anyone to do anything."

"No, I mean, I'm in a Hazmat suit." Sam pointed to himself. "Even if I were up to doing this - which I'm not saying I am - you wouldn't be able to experience any of that because I'm in this suit. It not only keeps anything from getting into the suit, but getting out, so no scent, no direct touch, even my voice is a bit muffled through the suit - or has a bit of a mechanical quality to it through the earpieces."

She blinked, not having thought of that.

Sam made a face. "I am  _not_  taking off the suit."

Her eyes widened in shock. "I would never—."

"Not you." Sam motioned to his earpiece, clearly still talking to Lincoln.

Chloe took in a deep breath and grabbed her earpiece, putting it back in her ear. "Lincoln." Her voice was incredibly calm. "If you don't go dark on this channel I will suspend you indefinitely for subordination. Am I making myself clear, agent?"

There was silence before an audible click could be heard.

"He's just worried about you." Sam frowned.

"I know." She leaned against the emergency exit's door with a sigh, hand over her eyes. "It's just that—." Her hand fell, and with it, she was met with a most disconcerting sight. "Sam?"

Where was Sam?

Where was the plane?

Where was  _she_?

Was she in… _water_?

Yes. It was all around her, and yet she was breathing normally and could see around her as if she were wearing goggles - but she wasn't. She knew for certain because she patted around her eyes and mouth just to make sure that she didn't have goggles or some sort of oxygen tube.

There was light up above and she swam towards it, kicking and clawing at the water, heading closer and closer to the light, seeking it, and yet it seemed that no matter how long and hard she swam, she could get no closer to the illusive glow. She stopped trying to climb further but kept her legs kicking so as to not descend, and then suddenly she was in a chair, on an airplane. But not her airplane.

" _Peter_?"

Peter sat next to her, his head leaned against the windowpane, staring down unseeingly at the airplane's wing. He didn't react to her voice, merely sighed and glanced over at his watch to check the time before his gaze returned out of the window.

" _Peter_." Chloe placed her hand on his arm and shook it, yet there was no reaction. "Peter, look at me."

Peter's leg shook, he was clearly anxious and uneasy about something.

"Peter?" She reached out and, after a moment's hesitation, ran her fingers through his hair. "You're not really here, are you?" When he still didn't react, she let out a deep sigh. "I'm starting to see things. The bond's giving out." Covering her face with her hands, she leaned, slumped forwards, elbows on knees as the weight of the implication wore down on her.

It was only the burning of her fingertips that made her pull her hands from her face to stare in horror as a black burn began to slowly crawl its way up her fingers towards her palms.

She turned to Peter only to find him gone, as was the plane. This time she was seated in a plane seat while in a room with no windows. There, in the middle of the room, were the crystal skulls.

"Coyote?" She called out for the mythical being who'd been with her during her last encounter with the skulls, and yet he didn't answer or appear. "Hello?"

Chloe suddenly noticed a skull beginning to bleed black, and another, and another, until that darkness began to corrupt the skulls.

What was happening?

Why was it happening?

Was she dying?

Did the skulls represent what was going on right now?

Was the information inside of her rotting away?

She turned to look for any other clue that might be in the room, only to suddenly find herself on her back, with Sam leaning over her, his eyes wide behind the hazmat suit's visor.

"She's coming back," Sam told someone as he helped her up so she could sit with her back against the emergency exit. "What happened to you?"

"I saw Peter." She ran her hand over her head. "I don't think he was really there."

"Is this a Bonder thing?" Sam wanted to know. "Or a virus thing?"

"Virus?" She asked in confusion.

"Dean got Agent Scott's girlfriend to talk. Apparently she believes that this might be a magical virus that escaped from her contact." He made a face. "I didn't even know there was such a thing as magical viruses."

"What does she know about the virus?" Chloe wanted to know as she tried to stand up, only to realize how weak she actually felt and thought it over twice, remaining where she was. "Does she know how to reverse whatever's happening here?"

"No, apparently the guy specializes in a variety of magical mayhem - her words, not mine," Sam assured her. "She says that what she wanted from him wouldn't have done this. But she's also not telling us what she planned on buying from him either." He motioned to her phone. "Lincoln got her to ID the man from the passenger manifesto and has sent all the info Anne's pulled up on him to your phone." He paused and held out her ear piece in his gloved hand. "Put your earphone in."

Putting the device back into her ear, Chloe pressed her fingers against it. "Good job."

There was silence.

"Lincoln?" Maybe the earphone had broken?

" _I called Peter_."

Her eyes widened in horror. "Lincoln!"

" _His phone was off_ ," Lincoln sighed, clearly frustrated. " _And his voicemail box was full so I couldn't even leave him a message._ "

"Don't involve him in this," she whispered tiredly.

" _Chloe, if you don't get a replacement soon_ —."

"I know. I'll deal with this." She sighed and pushed up to her feet with Sam's help. "I think I got a little warning. I saw the crystal skulls. They're turning black."

" _Jesus_."

"I know." She nodded as she pulled out her phone and went through the info that'd arrived, which, honestly, wasn't that very much. "I'll figure something out."

" _Sam, for god's sake, stop being so damned prude and_ —."

Chloe motioned for Sam to turn off his earpiece and shook her head. "You don't want to be my Bonder so I'm disqualifying you."

Confusion and guilt were visible on his face. "You're going to die if I don't agree, aren't you?"

"That's not your problem." She slapped his hand away when he tried to reach for her. "I already convinced one guy into being my Bonder out of pity, I will  _not_  force another to take this position, especially not out of guilt."

"I know a lot of guys who fit the profile you need," Sam said softly. "I just—I—I just lost someone I love—the only person I've ever—I can't—."

She placed her hand on his arm. "What was her name?"

Sam's expression softened and saddened at the very same time. "Jessica."

"Jessica," Chloe whispered the name as she hobbled over to the makeshift laboratory and looked over what Lincoln had sent over for her to work with. "Tell me all about her."


	4. Chapter 4

Peter jolted awake with a sense of fear that he couldn't quite understand.

His first thought was  _Chloe_ , but a quick glance to the seat at his side reminded him that she wasn't here, and that he'd been lucky enough to have the row to himself. Another look down at the design around his finger proved that while the markings were faint, they were still there, which meant that Chloe was fine. He must've just had a nightmare and awoken with fear - and for the last couple of months the only time he'd really been scared had been for Chloe. It must be some sort of instinct now, to worry about her, or to associate any worry with her.

Leaning hard against his seat, Peter flipped up his window's shutter and stared out at the plane's wing. He took in a very deep breath and shook his leg, unable to believe that he was doing this. He'd promised himself he'd never do this, and had lived his whole life up to this very moment very much determined and believing he'd keep his word.

And yet here he was, and he wasn't even sure why.

He'd left already.

So why did this matter?

 _Well, you're almost there, no chickening out now, Bishop_.

Glancing at his watch, Peter made a face and leaned harder against the seat in nerves. He was probably closer to a panic attack than he'd like to ever admit. Was this a mistake?

Most probably.

Was he going to do it anyway?

Yep.

" _Ladies and Gentlemen,_ " a voice declared from the overhead speaker. " _This is your captain speaking. We'll be landing in Snow Airport in approximately ten minutes—."_

He didn't hear the rest of the announcement, instead took in a deep breath and steadied himself for what was about to go down.

* * *

Philip Broyles wasn't usually someone who stepped back and let others basically run his op, but to be honest he wanted to see what exactly this Fringe team could do. So far he really wasn't impressed with most of them, especially not their "leader". Chloe Gibbs seemed, at best, a liability. Agent Lee, on the other hand, was not only incredible competent, but should clearly be the leader. Why he wasn't was a question the man couldn't understand. Agent Lee not only had the experience, but he had the ability and the definite willingness to do so. He also had the respect of the team, as no one questioned him ordering them around.

Unlike Agent Lee, Agent Gibbs was basically a damsel in distress, who seemed more problems than she was worth. What had she contributed so far to this mission other than "glitching"? Or putting herself in mortal danger? Not much. Why was she so important? Why were the Pentagon so invested in her?

And it seemed as if Agent Lee found her a liability as well, because while he definitely was in charge of this op and keeping an eye on the others - or issuing further orders - his attention was most definitely on what was going on inside the plane. And whatever he was seeing on the screen was definitely not something that he liked. In fact, he looked very frustrated and impatient, and kept muttering under his breath every couple of seconds.

Clearly he was growing more than annoyed with Agent Gibbs' antics as well.

Agent Lee's phone beeped and he glanced at the Caller ID before answering it, his gaze returning to the screen showing what was going on in the airplane. "Give me some good news, J." His eyebrows furrowed deeply as he listened to whatever this "J" person was telling him. "I can't, she's on the border. … No, she just disqualified Sam. Dean's all that's left given our limited timeline." There was a pause, and a confused look. "Who else?" Whatever J's answer was clearly confused him further. "This isn't time to play guessing games, she's—." His eyes suddenly widened and dropped his phone before taking off towards the door to the first level of quarantine, opening it and closing it behind him, breaching the inner chamber and hiding towards the second door before anyone could even think to stop him.

Agent Broyles blinked in shock, not having expected Agent Lee to act so rashly, so stupidly.

What in the world had he seen to get him to risk contamination?

* * *

She should be showing symptoms by now, there was a very big chance that this virus wasn't airborne, otherwise she should be cocooned by now. But she pushed that analysis to the back of her mind as she continued testing the substance. Sam mightn't have had a background in sciences, but he proved to be a more than adequate assistant. He was competent and quick, but not negligently so. He'd also helped the time pass by telling her about this Jessica Moore, and the more she listened to him, the more she was certain that Sam was not the Bonder for her. He had all the qualifications, but that dedication was towards Jessica. Chloe had no delusion that she'd have a Bond that was made of true love, but her Anchor would have to spend the rest of his life - or, at least, the rest of  _hers_  - basically dedicated to her.

And she'd never really thought of that in that light before. She'd thought of it like a business contract, but that'd been before Peter. When she'd been with him she'd let herself imagine what a Bond with someone who cared about her, who made her feel… he'd made her hope, dream, like an idiot. And now the reality of her situation hit her even worse. How could she ask someone to give up so much for her, especially when it was not natural and on a time table? Hell, Peter cared about her, but he'd escaped the first chance he'd gotten. That didn't bode well.

Who would want the burden? Because that was what she was, a burden. And she hadn't made things easier for her or any future Anchor by putting things off so long. She'd been childish and stubborn, had refused to think about a time in the future in which Peter wasn't there.

And now look where that'd gotten her.

 _I might very well die, and it'll all be my fault_.

She froze as she let that realization sink in deep. This could be the beginning of the end. No matter what she'd promised Lincoln, she already knew neither Winchester would be a good Anchor. They were Nomads. They were Hunters. They had a mission, one that would conflict with the work of Anchor. Her Bonder couldn't be all over the country doing what he wanted. He had to be with her, he was her one tether to this world and sanity. Sam and Dean would definitely come to resent her for it, much less John! They were all rolling stones who never gathered moss.

Nausea rolled through her stomach.

 _Maybe I should just get another temporary Anchor_?

But that was just putting off the inevitable again, wouldn't it? And it'd make things worse. Being without a Permanent Bond was making her mind, her abilities to process it's contents - everything - to go, quite frankly, wonky. It was like trying to power and run advance calculations through a quantum computer which could only access 10 percent of the battery charge needed to function.

Sooner or later, the computer was going to stop working.

"I don't understand," Sam hissed as he looked up from the strapped-in stewardesses and turned to eye the vial in Chloe's hand. "Why isn't anything reacting?"

Jolting out of her thoughts, Chloe concentrated once more on the vials in her hands, one with the substance of the cocoon, and the other with the liquid she'd poured into it. The cocoon liquid was its normal gelatinous and transparent self. Nothing she was testing the substance against was causing a reaction of any sort, which was supposed to be impossible, really.

"We're obviously missing something here." Chloe put the cover on the vial and placed it on the holder. "Maybe it needs a specific magical trigger?"

"But what could've happened on the airplane to trigger it? Because I'm sure that Gustav didn't plan on getting trapped in this as well," Sam muttered as he motioned towards the seat where the dealer, Gustav Jaeger, was seated, covered in the gelatinous substance. "Obviously whatever happened was unplanned."

"True." Chloe bit her bottom lip as she glanced around the cabin. "Not only would it have to be something that Gustav hadn't anticipated, but other than them hitting a really rough patch of turbulence strong enough to deploy the oxygen masks… It has to be something which is natural to this environment." To be honest, she didn't know much about airplanes. She wasn't too keen on flying in them, they crashed mostly in take offs and landings, and that was about the extent of her knowledge.

"This is so out of my normal scope of work," Sam admitted uneasily. "I'm used to, you know, looking in a newspaper, finding proof something is killing people, and then getting information from my dad's journal on how to kill it. This though? This goes way over my head! Sure, there's magic involved, and I'm sure you deal with supernatural creatures as well, but there's, like, quantum math and fringe science and all sorts of weird things I didn't even like the  _normal_  versions of in high school."

She looked up at that, not having considered that either. Sam might've been disqualified as a potential candidate, but this Compatibility Test was really opening her eyes to things she should've realized and considered earlier. This was an overwhelming thing for normal people. They didn't have 12 crystal skulls full of knowledge crammed into theirs, and even before then, she'd had above-average intelligence. So not only were they supposed to be physically and mentally strong, as well as someone who was stable and didn't mind losing out on time on the road, but candidates should also be smart in their own way, both intellectually and in common sense - especially the latter since, given the way her brain was crammed with so much intellect, it seemed to have dampened her own ability to note things that anyone with mere common sense could.

The list and qualifications were growing, as was the feeling of unease and despair in the pit of her stomach.

Who the hell would make that commitment?

Who would be  _capable_  of it?

"I mean, they checked the air in the oxygen masks so it can't be some sort of contaminant," Sam muttered as he walked down the aisle, eyeing the passengers. "And it's not like they're all using pillows or blankets. Gustav doesn't have any." He stopped next to Gustav and towered over him. "I mean, he's strapped in tightly, that's about it."

"I don't know if—." Chloe collapsed to her knees, nearly taking the makeshift laboratory with her. Symbols popped up all around her as a loud whine left her deaf to Sam, who was quickly being obscured from vision by the symbols. Something dripped down onto her hand, and she stared down at her hands to find that blood was dripping onto the floor and bouncing off onto her hands as they rested palms against the floor. She was bleeding from the nose again, yet unlike the usual trickle, this was a rapid flow.

Her limbs jerked, out of her control, itchy, needing something, but she could hardly concentrate on anything with the raising whine deep within, which was taking over and causing other alarms to sound in her mind. Her nails dug into the plane's carpet, pain piercing the tips of her fingers as she dragged her fingers through the material. It hurt. It HURT! But she couldn't stop herself as she attacked the carpet, somehow managing to yank out little bits of material.

 _Peter_!

The cry was instinctual.

She fought the rising terror in her chest. If her nails hadn't always been kept incredibly short they would've broken off already, and even now she could feel the tear beginning at the edges of her fingertips.

Something wrapped around her like a vise, augmenting her terror as the feeling of being trapped added to the mixture. She screamed and fought, unable to hear even her screams through the whine in her ear despite the fact that she was screaming so hard her throat burned her. Was this the cocoon? Was she being enveloped? Was this hell what the passengers were going through? The equations and symbols had covered every inch of everything, leaving her blind and deaf to whatever was truly happening.

Suddenly the grip around her disappeared but she felt her hands held up by her wrists. The fear of being trapped returned once more, and she struggled harder and harder, trying to break free, but whatever held her wrists wasn't letting go no matter how hard she tried. Suddenly something was placed into her hands and her fingers curled around it, before her hands were directed back to the ground.

Chloe breathed in, out, in, and then used her other hand to feel what was in her clenched hand. It was a scissors from the makeshift laboratory. Over to her right, a set of symbols were highlighted in brightest yellow, and Chloe began to trace them with the scissors. As soon as she was done, it disappeared, and more and more symbols began to become highlighted. As soon as she traced them they disappeared, giving a bit of her vision back to her. She didn't know how long she remained there, tracing symbols and equations, until suddenly the remaining disappeared, and she found herself on her knees, scissors in her hands, staring up into worried blue eyes.

"What  _is_  this?" Sam asked softly from where he was taking pictures of the equations. "I can't recognize any of these, and I've been trying to study latin and other dead languages since I've returned to hunting."

"We don't know yet," Lincoln responded as he eased the scissors out of Chloe's hands and rested it back on the makeshift laboratory. "This hasn't happened since I joined the team, but I've heard of it happening before. They think it might be the First Language."

"First Langu—?" Sam's eyes widened. "Like,  _"Tower of Babel"_  First Language?"

"Maybe," Lincoln cleared his throat and finally addressed Chloe. "You back with us?"

"Yes." She wasn't looking at him though, instead she was staring at the symbols she'd carved into the plane's floor. "Not that there's an opportune time for it, but this always happens at the  _worse_  times." That was when it hit her and she looked up at her second in command in horror. "You're here. Without a hazmat suit."

"We'll talk about my suspension later," he sighed as he sat down next to her and eyed the things she'd carved into the carpet. "Any idea what brought this on?"

"Nope." There was no use fighting with him now, so she just stored that argument for a different date. "The last time this happened…" Her eyes widened as her heart skipped a beat. "My Bond was about to fail." Terror clawed its way up her throat and she tried to swallow it back down but knew from the way Lincoln's eyes narrowed that she hadn't managed to do so on time.

"Sam, go help your brother. We need that witch to start talking. She knows more than she's saying." Lincoln looked tired. "I'll stay here and help." He smiled warily with a small raise of his shoulders as he rested his forearms over his knees. "It's not like I can go anywhere anyway."

"Okay." Sam nodded and, with one last brave smile to Chloe, left.

Chloe waited until he'd closed the airplane's door before she turned to Lincoln and sighed. "You're acting very out of character."

"How so?" He asked coolly as he wiped his glasses clean.

"Insubordinate," she told him point-blank. "Impulsive.  _Not_  level-headed." She counted them on her fingers. "I'm the one who goes off the cuff, not you, never you. You're the one with the head on your shoulders, a clear mind, a no-nonsense attitude, and discipline that rivals that of a Tibetan monk."

"I sound very boring," he laughed, still cleaning his glasses.

"No, you're reliable," she corrected immediately without a hint of a smile on her face. "You have no idea how much I appreciate that. There's very little I can rely on. My father being there is one of them, and you being you in the other." She let out a shaky breath. "Everything else is in a constant state of flux."

Putting back on his glasses, Lincoln sighed as he stared at the carved floor. "What are we missing to solve this case?"

She turned her attention on it as well as she stared at the scene in front of them. "Nothing. Everything."

"Whatever this is can't be airborne, you'd have manifested symptoms already - and if it's airborne there has to be some sort of trigger, one that is lacking right now." Lincoln pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "There has to be something."

"Sam and I have been testing the substance surrounding them, and nothing has—."

"But the cocoon is the symptom, not the cause," Lincoln interrupted. "Forget about the cocoon and the people in them."

"Kind of hard to do," she mumbled as she glanced around at said people.

He ignored that as he rose to his feet and helped her up to hers as well. "You know what happens to a computer when you run too many programs at the same time? It overheats. So just focus on this one problem and let's find the solution. What are the symptoms?"

"The cocoons, obviously." She flicked up a smaller screen, where videos and screen-captures of everything she'd seen were up.

"What are the cocoons doing to them?"

"We can't be too sure, but they're definitely changing something in them if they're dying upon extraction." Chloe lifted back the conversation with John Scott over the one casualty. "Asphyxiation."

"So does that mean they're developing gills or some other method of breathing?" Lincoln wanted to know. "They don't look like they have gills, but if they'll asphyxiate while surrounded with air—."

Chloe's eyes widened. "They wouldn't  _need_  gills!" She hurried to the tray with the gloop sample and placed it on the table while yanking on protective gloves and mask. Manganous sulfate was added, then alkaline iodide azide. She put a lid on the container and shook it gently to mix the chemicals in the sample, watching as floc began to form. That alone confirmed her suspicion, but she continued on with the experiment, occasionally looking up at the screen only she could see, which was giving her more detailed ingredients and portions until she was finally adding the liquid sodium thiosulfate titrant while mixing the bottle gently with the other hand. She used the dropper to add one drop at a time, counting the drops as she went, pausing between each drop until the water finally turned clear. From there it was only a matter of dividing the number of sodium thiosulfate titrant drops added by 2….

"DO." Chloe's eyes widened as she turned to the bodies. "That's why he asphyxiated when he was removed from the cocoon." She turned to Lincoln in shock. "When forcefully removed the subject went into shock and the first things to go were his lungs."

"You're saying that the cocoon is oxygen-rich, so they're breathing in the liquid, not air. That means there's a way to stop it without killing the subject, whereas mere extraction-." Lincoln turned his wide gaze on the group. "Okay. So that's one mystery solved. Next question - what sort of spell would do that, and  _why_?"

"Technically, that's two questions." She was already typing into the holographic keyboard in front of her before a hiss escaped her lips when an error message popped up. "The information you are trying to access is encrypted. It's asking for a password, which, of course, I don't have."

"Okay, forget about that, just, let's think it over. You've got the info there so let's not stress about that right now." He shifted so he was facing her and pushed away one of the deployed oxygen masks. "What can you tell me about this spell without accessing any of that information?"

"Well, with our new information I can confidently guess that this isn't—." She froze and stared at him.

Lincoln peeked behind him in visible confusion before turning back to her. "What's clicking in that mind palace of yours?"

"Not a mind palace," she mumbled as she reached forwards and grabbed the oxygen mask. Chloe then slowly looked around the airplane, eyeing the different masks. "There was turbulence, right? It was strong enough to deploy the oxygen masks."

"Oxygen levels were fine in the cabin when the first responders swept the area," Lincoln reminded as he followed her down the aisle. "They also checked the oxygen in the masks, as well as the masks themselves for any sort of contaminant but they were clean. So whatever this was couldn't have been something wrong with the airplane itself, but it has to be somehow related Mr Magic Dealer - although his being caught in it makes him seem very bad at his job. Either that, or he did this on purpose - which would make no sense."

She turned on her heel towards him unexpectedly and he only barely managed to keep from colliding with her. "Lincoln, gold star!"

"Does that mean I'm not suspended?" He wanted to know.

"Nope, you're definitely still suspended," she assured him with a large grin. "Insubordination is still insubordination. I can't have dissension in my ranks."

"You could at least look less happy about—."

"We've been looking at this wrong." Chloe moved passed Lincoln and went towards Gustav's seat. "Do you remember the night we met?"

"Not really, sometimes, I think? Coyote whammied us, remember? But I apparently took a picture of that series of symbols we carved into the glass because it's saved in my phone. And if I remember right, you said it could be used to detect whether a spell was present." He reached into his pocket and pulled out said phone. "Why didn't you do this to begin with?"

"I had a cool mini laboratory," Chloe muttered, a bit embarrassed as she motioned towards the makeshift laboratory. "It would be rude not to use it."

Snickering, Lincoln moved towards the closest window in an empty row and pulled up his pictures, looking for the correct picture.

Chloe watched him work before shaking her head and glancing around her. She sat down on the seat next Gustav and looked him over, it was only then that she noticed he wasn't just clutching at his pants nervously, but there was something in his hand. A quick look around her found a discarded pen on the floor, which she used to ease into the gelatinous substance and poke at his hand, easing it in such a way that she could get a better view of what he was holding onto so tightly.

" _Hey, Gibbs_ ," a voice spoke in her ear.

She looked up at the window despite knowing he wasn't there. "I heard my father tranquilized you."

There was a little growl of unhappiness, before Dean Winchester murmured his agreement of that fact. " _Not my topic right now, but we will talk about that later. Anyway, Agent Scott's vanished_."

"What?" Chloe stood up immediately but the restricted space she had between the seats forced her back onto her butt.

"You've got to be joking!" Lincoln snapped, proving he was listening in as well.

" _He helped his girlfriend escape, and he went with her_ ," Dean explained, clearly unhappy with it. " _He made me go outside to call and report in, and then he got me in the back of my head. Tess found me_.  _By then the both of them had disappeared_."

"So what? They were working together this whole time?" Lincoln asked as he turned his back on the half finished sequence of symbols.

"Maybe." Chloe made a face. "But we can't discard the possibility that she's forcing him, either by use of magic or other means. I mean, she's clearly proven herself to be devious. Don't forget her elaborate hoax, masterminded to get to this plane before us. Who knows what she wants or how far she'll go to get it. Prevention against all possible odds is…" Green eyes widened as she looked around. "No. It can't be that simple. Can it?"

" _What is it_?" Dean asked.

Chloe didn't answer, merely looked around her, processing every single thing around her, as well as everything she'd learnt since she'd entered the plane.

" _What are you doing_?" Dean wanted know, clearly watching them on the monitor.  _"Did you lose something or something_?"

" _Shhhhhhh_ ," Lincoln hushed him immediately. "She's processing."

" _What is she, a_ ** _computer_**?"

"More like a quantum hard drive," Lincoln muttered under his breath.

Facts collected and equations popped up all around her as variables were calculated. She followed them with her eyes, yanking out her earpiece when Dean spoke again, distracting her. With the earpiece firmly in her clenched fist, and the airplane itself deadly silent, she was able to fully pay attention to the incredibly rapid equations writing themselves all around her in bright gold.

Golden circles appeared around the oxygen masks, the seatbelt worn by all, the strapped-in stewards and stewardesses. Red X marks appeared next to the luggage which were visible under the seats, or the ones in the overhead compartments. She gripped the seat and tilted herself to the side to stare down the aisle at the little kitchenette (her vision filling up with more red x marks), before slipping out from the row and moving passed Lincoln to go to the bathroom where the dead body was.

Flinging open the bathroom's door, she bent down to truly stare at the asphyxiated corpse.

Standing once more, suspicions growing, Chloe moved passed Lincoln (who was staying close by but far enough to give her enough space to work), Chloe returned to Gustav and, before Lincoln could stop her, stuffed her hands through the gelatinous substance. She could feel it beginning to climb up on her body, but she ignored it as she fought the small object from Gustav's clenched fist.

" _IS SHE INSANE_?" Dean snapped in their ears. " _DO SOMETHING, LINCOLN!_ "

"Please tell me you have a very good reason for this," Lincoln whispered, clearly shaken as he reached the row.

"Open the emergency exit door for me." Chloe clutched the device in her hands and fought the worry that she might be wrong, but there was no time for doubt. Not now. That gelatinous substance was spreading throughout and over her body rapidly. Very rapidly.

"But—." Lincoln must've seen something in her eyes, because, despite very obviously not liking the situation, he reluctantly did as told. He flung it open and then stared outside at the very long way down. "Now what? Do I deploy the emergency slide? Or do you want the—?"

Chloe raced passed him, taking advantage of his distraction and through herself out of the airplane. Her scream as her body hurtled through the air towards the ground was muffled as the gelatinous substance closed up completely over her, engulfing her. The blonde shifted in the air and stared down at the ground before closing her eyes seconds before she hit.

* * *

Anne stared at her hand. It hadn't been her imagination, right?

"Did your hand just disappear for a second?" Jared squeaked as he rolled up closer on his seat.

Okay, so it hadn't been her imagination. "I'm getting pulled back to my reality. I don't think I'll be here much longer."

Jared's wide eyes met her own. "How can you be sure you're being pulled back to the right reality?"

She hadn't thought about that, and it terrified her. "It d-doesn't make sense for me to go to any other one," she tried to rationalize.

"True," he mumbled under his breathe. "This is good news, right? It's just that—I figured if there was anyone who could help us find a Bonder for Chloe it would be you."

Anne let out a deep breath as her hand flickered once more, even if only for a second. "I need to call Tess."

* * *

" _CHLOE_!"

Green eyes flew open, and Chloe stared at the ground, or, better said, at the cocoon between her and the ground, the one that… she stretched and shifted experimentally… had kept her from breaking anything from a fall that should've landed her in the hospital with serious injuries. Turning onto her back, Chloe lifted her hand to reveal the small device she'd taken from Gustav, and then turned off the switch, feeling the goo begin to dissolve very quickly from around her body before disappearing, evaporating into the atmosphere, leaving her lying on the ground.

Lincoln leaned out of the airplane's door, eyes wide, his glasses having apparently fallen from his face to the ground in an apparent effort to grab her on her way down. "You  _do_  want to die."

"Huh?" She called up at him as she pushed to her feet. "It's the device. It's some sort of protection for organic matter, that's why it didn't encapsulate anything else - not the luggage, the items in the kitchen, the things stashed under the seat, nothing." She made a face. "I think Gustav was scared of flying, and he activated it prematurely during the turbulence, and then had a heart attack, so he was unable to deactivate it once they were safe. Whatever this is, it's basically like a shock guard, might even allow you to stay safe and breathing if - say - your plane crashes into the sea and takes you down with it." She grinned brightly. "Do you think this is what Agent Scott's girlfriend wanted?"

Lincoln looked behind him before returning to her, face solemn. "The passengers are beginning to wake up." He then gave her one more look before shaking his head and disappearing into the plane.

Chloe's smile disappeared as she stared up at him curiously.

What was  _his_  problem?


	5. Chapter 5

' _Just leave a message after the beep already._ '

Peter wasn't answering.

Lincoln leaned hard against the wall and fought the wave of anger that rolled inside of him. This was probably the twentieth time that he'd called Peter since what had happened in the airplane, and yet his calls went to voicemail immediately. He didn't want to talk to Peter's mailbox, and he didn't want to hear that gruff message either. Why the hell wasn't Peter answering? Didn't he freaking care anymore? Hadn't that been why he'd left? Or had that all been bullshit to make his escape seem heroic and not at all selfish as hell?

' _Just leave a message after the beep already._ '

Peter needed to come back. Sam and John Scott had been huge busts in their own way, and if things bombed with Dean… where did that leave them? How much longer did Chloe have? And did she really want to live? He was seriously beginning to doubt that. Only someone with a death wish would do the shit she was doing. Had Peter's leaving her broken her that badly? Lincoln had thought he'd been learning to read her, but that jump out of the plane had been something he'd never seen coming.

_'Just leave a message after the beep already.'_

What would happen next time? Lincoln had proven not to be fast or smart enough to anticipate her self-destructive tendencies. The next time…

_'Just leave a message after the beep already.'_

The next time she could die.

She could die.

She  _would_  die.

_'Just leave a message after the beep already.'_

Lincoln clutched his phone tightly and for once didn't hang up and dial again. Instead he let the beep ring loudly in his ear, and when he spoke, it was soft yet incredibly angry. "If she dies, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself."

And with that he hung up and shoved his phone into his jacket's pocket.

* * *

 

"How much time do you think we have?" Tess asked softly as she watched Anne's fingers flicker in and out of sight.

"I don't know," Anne admitted as she eyed her digits.

"We should tell Chloe."

"No." Anne turned on her seat to look up at Tess. "She's busy right now, she needs to concentrate on what she's doing. And so far only my fingers are going and coming. This could last for days for all we know."

"Or you could take a step and… disappear." Tess sighed and clenched her hands.

Anne merely smiled sadly up at her, unable to contradict that at all.

* * *

 

Vance had a feeling he might've just lost Agent Broyles his Division, but to be honest he didn't quite like Broyles, and the one Agent he'd deigned to introduce them to had not only brought hexes in with him, but had fled with their prime suspect - his  _girlfriend_. So all in all, even if for incompetence alone, the Scientific Anomaly Division should be scrutinized harshly by the Higher Ups, and considering he'd debriefed them on exactly what was happening, Vance was very sure they'd all be under direct scrutiny for treason, among other things. Jared's 'suggestions' when he'd come in earlier had been very useful, that young man knew how the Pentagon thought and how to manipulate it masterfully. Neither he nor Vance thought a merger a good idea, and thanks to the both of them, that was very probably obsolete now.

Now, they needed to look towards the whole Anchor debacle. Chloe needed to be stable for once in her life, maybe then they could get somewhere with the Tarot Murders, as well as getting Anne back to her own reality. The Adept was no good to the world if she was constantly on the verge of going insane. That was the last thing they needed. No. If Chloe wouldn't choose one of her own volition they'd have to do so for her. It wasn't… preferable… but it  _was_ preferable to her losing her mind or dying.

He doubted the others would see it that way though.

* * *

 

"Oh no!" Abby gasped, sharing a look of horror with Ziva before both turned their attention to Jared. "How soon are we talking about?"

"Her hand disappeared for like ten seconds," Jared muttered as he leaned close to them, voice low as his gaze darted around the room. "The time seems pretty nigh."

"We must say our goodbyes," Ziva decided as she stood from the seat she'd taken at Abby's desk.

"I don't want her to go back," Abby sighed despondently. "And what about Tess?"

Jared shrugged. No one quite wanted Anne to go back, but whether they wanted it or not, it was most definitely going to happen soon.

* * *

 

Lincoln was annoyed with her. Sure, he hadn't come out and said anything, and he was incredibly professional, helpful, and amicable—no one seemed to have picked it up, except her, that is. While he mightn't be showing any outer hints, Lincoln was  _seriously_  annoyed with her. It was more than obvious to Chloe. Maybe she'd learnt to read him as well as he'd apparently learnt to read her these last couple of months. She definitely hadn't been studying him more than she did everyone who worked for her, but she realized she'd learnt some of his ticks by now, such as the way he kept saying  _yup_.

A cup of coffee slid across the table and she only barely managed to catch it before it went sliding off the other side. She glanced up at Lincoln in surprise from where she'd been adding information on the device into her virtual database. They were back at the office, with the airplane being taken into an NCIS warehouse for further research, and given the fact that their alliance should've ended by the time the plane's mystery was solved, she'd forgotten all about Philip Broyles and had no idea where in the world he was. Then again, she got sucked up into cases like this and tended to lose track of everything else around her.

Like the fact that it was way passed lunch.

A sandwich in a plastic container slid up to where she was.

"I was going to get something to eat after I finished typing everything in," she lied horribly.

"Yup." Lincoln smiled at her with a quick raise of his eyebrows, and when his phone rang, he saluted her and left to take it.

She gulped as she watched him go. Damn it. He was seriously pissed at her.

Lincoln passed Dean as the sandy blonde entered the room, a couple of files in his hands. The men nodded to each other as Lincoln left the room, talking in hushed tones to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"So, Sam and I are in charge of going through all the luggage in the airplane and clearing it before anything can, potentially, be returned to the passengers and their family. This is a quick debrief on the passengers, their reasons for coming here, mostly focusing on Gustav, the dead guy, and the pregnant woman, as requested." He slammed the folders down on the counter next to her food before making a face at her sandwich. "A cold turkey and cheddar sandwich? This is what you survive on?"

She always got this, so she shrugged and pushed the food to the side as she reached for the folders curiously.

"You need actual food, like, you know, a cheeseburger."

Amused that he thought that was 'actual food', Chloe snickered as she flipped through the first folder curiously. This was on the pregnant woman, apparently named Shelley Marshall. She was widowed, her husband had died in Afghanistan three months ago, and she was flying to be with family for the child's birth. Chloe hoped to any celestial being listening that Gustav's organic protection hadn't affected the child somehow, they were going to have to run many tests on the already traumatized and confused mother to be. This would not be pleasant.

"So, Sam says you need a Bonder."

She looked up at him in surprise. "Uh, yeah."

Dean looked her up and down, twice, and then raised an eyebrow. "What's the issue? You're pretty."

His point-blank-ness was more amusing than embarrassing, and caused her to snicker once more. "As I told Sam, it's more complicated than that. The mechanics of a psychological and metaphysical marriage of sorts, coupled with that of hormonal and pheromonal, and that's just physiologically speaking, if I were to add the emotional—."

"Dumb that down a little," he laughed.

She hissed softly under her breath as she tried to do so in her mind, and while it was somewhere in there, there were too many equations and scenarios running in regards to the case, that she didn't have enough mental power to force as close as normal conversation as she usually could when her mind was mostly idle. "That's… hard."

Eyes narrowed on her slightly, he nodded. "So this whole dictionary-like communication is an issue, okay, I get that." He tilted his head to the side. "I don't think I would be the best Bonder for you. Not only don't we know each other well enough to make a big commitment like that, and not only am I not one for commitments in general, but if I'm being truthful, you scare the hell out of me."

Her gaze lowered to his hands as she nodded.

"But I could be like Peter, you know? At least for right now? While I'm here at least?"

Chloe looked up at him in confusion.

He shrugged and looked incredibly uncomfortable as he rubbed his hand over his hair. "Sam said your Bond with Peter is about to fail. That can't be good. But if Peter was temporary… I mean… I mightn't be good at commitment, but I'm  _very good_  at protecting people in need of help." He was clearly out of his element, yet trying very hard. "So, I mean, I don't think I've stayed in one place long, and I'm a bit of a road warrior with a need to keep moving… but I could help buy you a little more time. You know?" He smiled sheepishly. "And I mightn't get what you're saying, but Lincoln does, so I could always get him to translate for me until you find the guy to take over permanently. You know?"

"You—you'd do that?" Chloe asked in shock. " _Really_?"

"You're the Adept, that's important, who knows when we'll need what's in your head to save the world?" He chuckled nervously, clearly highly uncomfortable. "Look. I'm not good with this kind of shit, so I'll definitely be rough around the edges, but who knows, maybe that'll help you find Mr Right a lot quicker?"

She laughed. "Maybe."

"And, I mean, I might be offering, but Sam said you need to smell me or something?" Dean made a face at that, clearly not too sure how he felt about that.

"Compatibility Test," she clarified, and when he only looked more confused she tried again. "In order to test the validity of a potential Bonder we've designated a period in which various assessments are carried out which will, if carried out correctly, help determine potential via a process of elimination." When Dean looked even more lost she died a little inside from mortification, but tried once more, breaking the process to its most rudimentary form. "Date night?"

"Ah." His eyes widened and he smirked as he leaned with one hand against the edge of the table. "I can do that."

Despite her previous mortification, Chloe's lips trembled in a smile. It wasn't the only thing trembling though. Her hands were clasped at her sides, had been since this conversation had begun, and only now did she unclasp one. It was sweaty so she rubbed it hard against her pants' leg, all the while second-guessing herself into nausea. Before she could stop herself with her insecurities Chloe reached over and rested her hand over his.

Dean looked surprised.

She ignored him though, fighting with the waves of nervous nausea which rolled in her stomach with the magnitude of a turbulent sea. She was sweating more than before, which was mortifying, but at least she wasn't physically ill from physical contact. That was a really great sign. And yet, just as she was congratulating herself, Dean moved towards her, and she backed away so quickly in instinctive self-preservation that she not only hit the table, but the cup of coffee tumbled off of the table and splashed on the ground.

"Sorry!" Dean pulled away quickly, hands up in the air like one might when being arrested.

"N-no, I was jumpy, my fault." She realized she'd moved to press her back against the counter and was gripping the edges of the counter behind her tightly. "Y-you were r-right in testing furthers as preliminary results were favorable. I just wasn't caught up to speed and ready for the further analysis. I am now." She gripped the counter behind her so hard her fingers hurt, yet she forced a smile on her face. "P-please proceed."

With a last look at the mess of coffee on the ground, Dean turned towards her and nodded as he moved closer.

Nausea and fear rose in her throat, as it always did when a man entered her personal space, but she fought revealing it on her face. Dean flickered in front of her, becoming Lionel, his face, his grin, his scent. She nearly vomited, and the world began to spin slightly as dizzy disorientation filled her.

Dean stopped in front of her and leaned in, looming over her as he cupped her face and then kissed her, his body trapping hers against the desk.

She was trembling, she was nearly crying, but she'd known this would happen. Even that first night with Peter had been very touch and go at certain parts, especially the beginning. Even after that night Peter had had to be very patient with her, and he always had been, had always seemed to know without her telling him that it was hard for her not to see Lionel, not to hear his breath in her ear, his shushes or whispers for her to be a good girl and stop struggling.

Dean's arm curled around her and pulled her close to him, tightly as he took the kiss deeper.

She nearly screamed, could barely keep back the sobs, while trying to remind herself this was now, not then, not with  _him_.

What was  _wrong_  with her?

Dean was her last option! He was a good option - a great one! She couldn't be this weak! She needed to suck it in, butch up, and do what she needed to do to keep alive, to—.

Dean's phone rang and he pulled away, an embarrassed smile on his face as he answered it, and then he frowned and walked out of the room, voice gruff as he spoke.

Chloe stood where she'd been, gulped, gulped again, and again. She yanked free from the counter she'd been holding so tightly her fingers seemed to have melded into that grip. The blonde walked around the counter to the back and slid in under it, hiding on the other side as she sat on the cold ground and just stared ahead of her, Lionel's face flashing in front of her tauntingly. She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her knees as she stared ahead, shivers of fear and disgust shaking her body.

She liked to pretend that she'd been brave and had gotten over what had happened, that she'd been able to put it behind her, and it'd been easier to pretend before, but not now. Lionel was a ghost who always hovered in the back of her mind and who'd pop out at her when she wanted it least. His death hadn't changed that, she'd thought it'd make her feel safer somehow, would help her heal, but it hadn't.

 _He's going to be here forever_.

When the first tear fell, Chloe was forced to confront one of the reasons she'd been so… relaxed… in her search for a new Bonder: finding a new Bonder meant going through exactly what she'd just gone through. The thought of… Nausea and self-hatred at her own weakness filled her as she curled into herself and grabbed her hair tightly. Eyes screwed closed tightly, Chloe didn't know how long she'd stayed there, sobbing, self-pitying and self-hating all at the same time.

It was only when she heard the door close that she choked back the cries and tried to stifle any sound, mortified at the thought of someone, especially Dean, coming in and finding her like this.

There was a moment's silence, she hoped the person had left, but then soft footsteps came towards her.

Lincoln rounded the corner and stared at her in silence, having apparently followed her coffee-stained footsteps. He pushed up his glasses and looked her over, most probably shocked at just how pathetic she appeared. His lips parted but he closed and pressed them hard in a line as he instead sat down facing her, leaving some distance between them.

"I'm fine," she croaked out as she wiped her eyes with feverish need. "I'm overreacting."

Lincoln leaned back and away from her, his weight on the meat of his palms, not seeming to care about the germs on the floor. "So Dean's no good either."

"No, he's fine. Compatible. So far at least. He said he'll be a temporary Bonder to buy me more time." She hugged her knees so tightly she was blocking circulation. "We kissed against the table."

Lincoln's eyes widened as he straightened up immediately. "But… that's  _good_  news."

She couldn't meet those eyes, not with all the questions she saw in them, questions she didn't have the strength to talk about right now. There were very few people she'd told about what'd happened to her, and she didn't want to tell him, didn't want him to think of her differently once he knew all the details. Tears were also fighting their way back to her eyes, and she stabbed at them with the heels of her palms furiously.

Surprisingly enough, Lincoln didn't ask anything. He merely removed his jacket and held it out to her, keeping a surprising amount of distance between them.

She pushed it away from her.

He dangled it between them in a 'this is the last offer' sort of way.

Chloe glared at him yet still yanked the jacket from him and wrapped it around her shoulders, surprised to realize just how cold she'd actually been now that the heat enveloped her. Gooseflesh covered her skin as the warmth chased away the chill that'd taken over her body during her little breakdown. She sneezed, once, twice, and then glanced up at Lincoln to find that smug and annoying know-it-all expression on his face.

Changing his position, Lincoln folded his arms over his knees and rested his chin on them as he merely sat there.

Chloe leaned back hard against the table and took in deep breaths, calming herself.

The door opened. "Sorry about—Chloe?" It was Dean. "Did she leave?"

Chloe's eyes widened as she turned to Lincoln to beg him to be quiet, she couldn't stand Dean or anyone seeing her like this.

Lincoln was watching her in silence, and before she could even mouth the plea he pressed a finger to his lips.

Relief filled her as she leaned back harder.

"Huh." Dean muttered to himself as he left.

Chloe's breath escaped her lips in wordless relief.

Reaching up to the table's surface, Lincoln felt around blindly before he withdrew his arm, the plastic container with the sandwich in hand. Eyebrow raised, he slid it across the floor towards her.

Fighting the smile twisting her lips at just how bullheaded he was, Chloe opened the slid, took out half of the sandwich, then closed the container and slid it back to Lincoln.

Instead of arguing with her, as she'd expected, Lincoln merely opened the container and took his half of the sandwich, throwing her the package of mayonnaise she'd forgotten, while keeping the little package of mustard for himself.

Catching the mayonnaise, and proud of that catch, Chloe chuckled as she bit it open while Lincoln did the same with the mustard.

They ate in silence.

* * *

 

"What's wrong?" Gibbs went cold the second he saw Anne's face the second the elevator's doors slid open. While she wasn't  _technically_  his daughter, he'd be lying if he said he didn't think of her as a second daughter, and the look in her eyes really did his stomach terribly.

Instead of answering, Anne entered the elevator and waited for the doors to close before she pulled the emergency break, clearly psyching herself up for something. She turned to him and opened her mouth, before she clearly faltered and, in lieu of words, proved just how much of a daughter she was by bypassing words to instead use actions. Anne nearly threw herself on him as she hugged him tightly, hiding her face in his shirt.

Something was seriously wrong. Had Agent Mercer broken his girl's heart? Woman or not, he was not going to let something like that slide.

"I'm going to return, soon," Anne whispered into Gibbs' shirt. "Like,  _really_  soon."

He wrapped his arms around her, eyebrows nearly touching in a frown. "You've discovered a way back home?"

"I don't have to," Anne continued to whisper. "I'm being dragged back, I can feel it."

It took a moment for him to keep his composure. "You don't sound very happy."

"I always knew I was going to go back, and I thought I'd managed to keep up a good enough emotional barrier between me and you guys, but it turns out a seriously  _suck_  at it," she admitted ruefully. "I almost don't want to go back."

"You don't have to," he said a little too quickly.

"Yeah, I do," she countered softly. "There's the balance of the universe to think about." And yet she gripped him tighter. "I'm going to miss you."

He gulped, he took in a deep breath, and when he felt his voice wouldn't waver, he spoke. "And I you, kiddo."

She tensed, her voice hesitant and incredibly vulnerable. "If your wife and daughter hadn't died… would you have still wanted Chloe in your life?"

Leroy Jethro Gibbs wasn't good with women, not with dating them or understanding them in general - hell, he was still learning how to be a father to them - but even he understood the true underlying question. He pulled away yet kept his hands on her shoulders as he stared into her green eyes. "He will love you, just as much as I do."

Tears filled her eyes as Anne's lips trembled, but she managed to keep her composure, proving yet even more how much of him was in her. " _I love you too_." And with that she threw herself against him and hugged him tightly.

He hugged her back just as tightly.

* * *

 

"Has anyone seen my magazine?" Tony wanted to know as he searched his desk for the hundredth time. "It's the special Star Wars edition. Anyone?"

"No one cares about your magazines, Tony," McGee assured him while typing into his computer.

Tony narrowed his eyes on him accusatorially. "It was you, wasn't it?"

" _Some_  people actually have  _work_ ," McGee assured him as he continued to type. "You probably took it the bathroom and forgot it in there."

"No. I didn't." Tony moved around the desk and peered over McGee's shoulder at the screen. "Now she's a looker. That your new digital girlfriend or something?"

A sigh escaped McGee's lips. "No, Tony. I'm helping Anne run some searches." He glanced around the room before leaning in and speaking in a lower tone. "She's the suspect that, you know, escaped."

Tony frowned as he tilted his head. "She looks familiar."

"Yeah?" McGee snorted as he turned back to face the screen. "She in porn?"

Tony slapped McGee up the back of his head without even looking away from the screen. "No. I've seen her somewhere in person. I'm sure of that. Recently, too."

Rubbing the back of his head, McGee frowned. "There's nothing on her in our system. She's like some sort of ghost or something."

"No, not a ghost…" Tony frowned. "Where have I seen her before?"

Seriously, where?

* * *

 

"What are you doing?" Sam wanted to know, bitchy and annoyed as usual.

Dean didn't even look up from the magazine he'd swiped from Tony's desk on his way to the Fringe Division's Rec Room. "Reading." He snorted and flipped the page. "And you're supposed to be the smart one."

Rolling his eyes, Sam folded his arms over his chest, looking constipated. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. I get that you're all in for the fight, but you don't seem to get that being the Anchor isn't something you should just flippantly accept. Chloe already had a temporary Anchor in Peter, and from what I've managed to learn in the last hour, their bond was already breaking. You being her 'temporary' Anchor mightn't work! THEN what? You'll be forced to be her PERMANENT ONE! Is that what you want?"

Honestly, Sam thought he was dumb, and that annoyed Dean more than he let on. That was why he purposely didn't answer immediately and peered at the article on the new Star Wars movie, and admire Daisy Ridley, before finally looking up at Sam, who was basically fuming. "I have a plan."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Sure you do."

Dean returned his attention to the picture of Daisy Ridley.

"You…  _do_." Sam's voice was surprised. "What exactly do you have planned?"

Dean merely smirked as he once more flipped the page.

* * *

 

St Claire's Psychiatric Institution was a place he'd sworn he'd never go, and yet here he was, looking at the visitor's form and clutching his ID, as he'd need it to prove his right to visitation. He hadn't turned on his phone since he'd gotten off of the airplane, didn't want to allow anything to lose his nerve —which was seriously close to happening right now. Peter could still leave. All he'd have to do was turn and exit the building, and he was about to shove his ID back into his pocket when he caught sight of the faint design around his finger. His grip on the ID tightened so hard it shook, and he fought all sorts of complicated feelings and questions.

This was always supposed to be temporary.

 _Always_.

They'd gone into this…  _thing_ … both knowing it.

So why was he here?

Why did he care?

He was free, damnit!

And yet, when the design faded slightly right in front of his eyes, he swallowed back a surprising wave of nausea and anger.

Right.

This was why he was here.

Because he was  _pissed off_.

Taking in a deep breath, Peter grabbed a pen and began filling out the forms.


	6. Chapter 6

Anne had planned on telling Chloe, really, she had. She'd asked the others to give her some time as well so she could say her goodbyes, and yet it'd all been interrupted by… well… Chloe herself.

"Something's wrong." Chloe leaned hard against the desk, hand to her head. "Something's happening. I don't know what… but it's big."

So no, Anne wasn't putting off telling Chloe, instead she was prioritizing helping her doppelgänger figure out what in the world was going on now.

She just hoped they figured it out before she disappeared.

* * *

 

There it was again.

Chloe typed code rapidly, bringing up active searches. Whatever this was, something out there had to be picking it up! Yet despite this, seismic, meteorological nor electrical radars were picking up anything. How was this even possible?

"Is there a kind of magic that is completely undetectable by human means?" Anne wanted to know from her computer, where she was also running scans of the city.

"Yes, but when I roped Sam and Dean into Project Nomad I had them do a little magical tagging all over the city for me as a little side project, yet none of them are pinging." Any burst of magic powerful enough to be hidden from human technology should've at least caused a little beep, something minute but traceable. And yet there was nothing.

"Hmmm." Anne made a face before beginning to type once more.

Doors flew as Lincoln stormed in. "We have a problem."

Behind him was Jared, who flung the image on his tablet up onto the computer screens.

There, in the black and white of security camera footage, was a monster unlike any in Chloe's known database. In fact, a headache was already forming due to how rapidly her mind was trying to analyze and categorize the beast. A girl stepped into frame. She was nondescript in every way possible, and would've been easily missed and forgotten if it wasn't for the fact that she was charging the beast with some sort of…

" _Tell_  me that doesn't look like a lightsaber," Jared declared as he stared straight at the sword, which had a very dark purple glow.

As if to emphasize the Star Wars comparisons, the girl, back to camera, held her hand not holding the sword out towards the creature - causing the thing to spasm uncontrollably.

"Strong in the force, she is," Jared yoda'd, visibly impressed.

The creature broke free from the hold and lunged at the girl. She visibly cursed, barely managing to dodge in time, and swung, slicing off a few of that thing's fingers when it clawed at her. That wasn't enough, though, to keep the creature from snatching her necklace and running away by literally throwing itself into the bushes surrounding them.

The girl's visage flickered and wavered being disintegrating to reveal -  _Chloe_. Except not. Her hair was chin-length, her clothes all black and leather, and her skin as covered in odd tattoos. There was an air of danger surrounding her, maybe was how she didn't even seem to think twice about diving in after the creature.

"Now we know what you've been feeling." Anne broke the silence. "There's another version of us running around out there."

"The guys doing the scrubbing thought it was you," Lincoln added.

"There's a hit on the facial recognition search you made me run!" Tess declared as she hurried in triumphantly. "We know where C3 is."

* * *

 

Chloe Wayland hated being right.

While there hadn't been any proof, her gut had told her a tail had been placed on them, she just hadn't expected there to be more than one. That was why she'd been forced to take such a drastic and risky chance like this.

She needed to find and kill every last demon she'd trapped… here. Where the hell had the rune brought them to, anyway? She'd been in a panic, and in a pinch, and when the rune had appeared flashing in her hour of need she'd just gone with the flow and made it… and then they'd all ended up  _here_. At least she'd gotten most of the demons brought along with her. She just needed to make sure they got them all before one found a portal back.

 _You shouldn't have let your guard down, if they get back to the others and reveal what you've been really doing it will not be pretty_.

Kicking herself once more, Chloe followed the trail left on the demon from the tracking rune she'd slashed into its skin. At least this was the last creature on her list. As soon as she killed this one and got her glamour charm back they could return to Edom and pretend none of this had ever happened.

Bushes ahead shook, and right before Chloe could attack, a flash of flaming hair could be seen as Clary stumbled out.

"I. Hate. You." Clary picked a leaf out of her own hair. "We're never going to find that thing."

"It's still close, my angelic runes mightn't work perfectly anymore, but I know it's here somewhere." Chloe raised an eyebrow expectantly.

Clary pouted. "I couldn't tag them  _all_. I'm good, but that's asking a lot."

That was true. Chloe knew she relied very heavily on Clary when it came to angelic runes, and that wasn't fair. "Well it doesn't really matter if one gets away and goes back home anyway."

"How can you say that?" Clary's eyebrows nearly touched in a frown. "There's a Zoberian demon running loose - wherever the hell we are." She glanced around them. "Where are we, anyway?"

"No clue," the blonde admitted as she put her blade away. "I just followed the rune." She cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck.

"We should look for the demon," Clary muttered uneasily with a glance around them. "If it gets back to Lilith and tells her what we were doing we're both toast."

"We're too important to kill." Chloe yanked the fingerless gloves out of her jacket's pocket and onto her hands. "The demon who brings her the message though? Its days are numbered. She's not going to risk our activities getting leaked to the others."

"She wouldn't hurt one of her own," Clary countered immediately. "She's the  _demon_  princess, not the  _halfling_ princess. Her allegiance is obvious."

"Doesn't matter, not as long as I have this." She patted the inside zipped pocket of her jacket.

Clary's gaze lowered to the pocket before rising to meet Chloe's. "Why does my Gemini  _have_  to have a death wish?"

Chloe chuckled. "I'm not going to die." And with that she reached out rapidly and twisted Clary's neck roughly, rapidly, the sound of bones breaking loud as Clary's head twisted on her body seconds before she crumpled to the ground. "You? On the other hand?"

"Put your hands up!" A shocking voice yelled.

Chloe turned to see…  _herself_.

Fear filled her as she glanced back to Clary's body. She hadn't made a mistake, had she? This couldn't—?

And yet Clary's body began to shimmy and shake, the false visage of her Gemini shifting to show the injured yet not dead demon who'd been hiding from sight.

Relief returned to Chloe's body, although surprise was still there as she realized that was actually another her. Especially since this other her was using a gun, and had others emerging from the woods behind her as well, so she couldn't be another demon. Apparently, wherever the rune had taken them had a version of herself who was like a SWAT member or something. That was weird.

A flash of red could be seen in the bushes out of the SWAT's line of sight, but Chloe subtly shook her head, letting her Gemini know to stay hidden. It wouldn't do to have them  _both_  taken, would it?

"What  _is_  that thing?" A voice asked. It  _also_  sounded like Chloe, but she couldn't tell because of the helmet.

"It's a Zoberian demon," Chloe informed them easily. "And it's not dead yet. I need to…" Without waiting to ask them not to shoot her, Chloe pulled out two blades from the inside of her jacket's sleeves and rammed them deep into the demon's head, using them to split it completely open in four slices. She then dropped the blades and stood back up, grabbing her glamour charm on the way. Her hands went back up in surrender.

"Cuff her." One of the men announced.

Chloe remained where she was, hands up, eyes on her doppelgänger.

This was going to be very interesting.

* * *

 

This was the third version of herself that Chloe had met so far, and this was the only one that scared her. There was something about her eyes, they were dark and empty, as if something precious had been ripped from her, something she'd never be complete without. What had happened to this other version of herself? Not only was she definitely some sort of demon killer, but there was more to it than just that. The tattoos weren't like anything in Chloe's database, and her glowing blade and other assorted weapons? Unprecedented. And that demon? Unlike anything else she'd seen.

The glamour charm was also interesting. Had this version of her known she was in a reality with another Chloe and had been using it to go undetected? The charm was incredible, way above the standards of similar trinkets in her own reality. Wherever this Chloe was from, not only was there magic, but it was by far superior to the magic in this reality.

"She puts me on edge," Anne admitted as she eyed Chloe, who was in their special holding cell right, being observed behind a two-way glass. "She's missing something."

"You feel it too?" Chloe asked in surprised.

"I feel really cold, and sad," Anne whispered as she hugged herself. "Something  _really_  bad happened to her."

"She's a good person still though, right?" Jared mumbled from where he sat backwards on the chair. "I mean, she was hunting demons. Anyone who hunts demons can't be all that bad."

"I don't know," Sam muttered from where he and Dean were standing. "We've met some real assholes in the hunting community."

"What do we even call her?" Anne wanted to know. "C3? I mean, Chloe has our first name, and I have our second name…"

"How many more realities are gonna clash with ours? First yours and now-?" Chloe whispered as she wondered at the implications. "We might have to start a numbering system."

"I don't know if it's a good idea for you to be in there when we interrogate her," Lincoln admitted as he finally looked away from the glass to stare at Chloe. "She might be you, and she might've been hunting demons, but there's something about her that makes me uneasy. She came in way too easily for someone who could go hand to hand with a demon like that. Makes me feel like she  _wanted_  to be brought in."

"He's right," Tess agreed before Chloe could argue with him. "She's dangerous, and you're the Adept, we can't put you at any sort of—."

" ** _Adept_**?" A voice asked in surprise from the interrogation room, causing everyone to turn to find the girl now staring straight at her. "So in this reality I'm the Adept. Huh." She snorted and shook her head. "Is there a reality in which I'm normal? One of me is a SWAT person and the other is the Adept." She rolled her eyes and leaned backwards on her chair's hind legs while raising her magicked handcuffs, proving they weren't on her wrists anymore. "The rune could've brought me anywhere but it brought me to this reality - when I didn't even realize runes  _could_  jump realities - so it's got to be because of you." She tilted her head. "What does the Adept need, exactly?"

"She can't possibly hear us," Jared whispered to himself. "That's  _impossible_."

C3 rolled her kohl-lined eyes. "Sure, I can't hear you, I just pulled all that coincidental crap right out of my—."

"You can't stop me." Chloe eyed Lincoln before hurrying out of the door.

"She's not even handcuffed!" Lincoln hissed behind her but it was too late, she'd already opened the door and entered the interrogation room, with him, Anne and Tess behind her. Apparently Jared, Sam and Dean were staying back to observe in case they needed extra help.

C3 eyed Chloe and Anne curiously, visibly fascinated as she leaned forwards on the desk to get a better look. "Wow. I mean, other than the fashion choices, and the fact that I definitely have more muscle than both of you combined, we're practically identical." She chuckled and leaned back. "Also, don't call me C3, it's too close to C3PO, you can call me CeeCee. Usually my best friend is the only one allowed to call me that, but given Anne's previous statement, and your penchant for nerdism in name-calling, I'll let you call me it too." Her sharp green gaze went to Lincoln and then to Tess, and then she smirked and shook her head. "Blonde guys and redheaded women, it's a freaking stereotype."

"Excuse me?" Tess glared defensively.

"Inside joke, you wouldn't get it," CeeCee assured her as she leaned back on her chair's hind legs once more and peered at Anne. "So, she's the Adept, what are you?"

Anne faltered under the questioning. "No one."

"Right." CeeCee eyed her. "So you're not some big shot SWAT member? What about in your own reality?"

"No." Anne blinked and cleared her throat. "Back in my own reality I, I kind of, was a part of a superhero team. I was Watchtower."

"Okay. So: Superhero, Super Fountain of Occult Knowledge… and  _me_. I was right. None of us are normal." She sighed, looking very disappointed in this fact.

"What  _are_  you?" Chloe finally asked as she sat down across from CeeCee. A part of her was still ill at ease, and yet the other didn't really feel in danger. What if CeeCee was right? Apparently something had brought her to this dimension - a rune? Was this happening because of the Selection? "You know what we are, it is only polite to do the same."

CeeCee eyed the two-way glass and then Tess and Lincoln, very calculating, before she raised an eyebrow. "I'm an experiment."

" _What_?" Anne sat down next to Chloe at the table, both girls ignoring Lincoln and Tess, who stood silent behind them.

"I'm a science experiment created by a crazed sociopath who had money, power and the social influence needed to do whatever the hell he wanted to whoever the hell he wanted."

Chloe went cold. "Lionel." Oh god, was he making the lives of other versions of herself nightmares as well?

CeeCee pulled a face and shook her head. "Valentine. He's basically our Hitler."

"So you have Hitler and Star Wars in your reality too," Anne muttered to herself.

CeeCee shrugged and nodded simultaneously before pursing her lips. "Look, while this is kind of cool and mind-blowy… I'm going to be missed  _very_  soon, and when those demons don't go back to report on what I've been up to, I'm going to have literal hell chasing me. So for right now I just need to get down to business." She straightened in her seat and squared her shoulders. "One of you needs something from me, the rune wouldn't have brought me here to meet you otherwise. So which is it? Or is it both of you?"

"You grant wishes?" Anne asked doubtfully. "What are you, a genie?"

CeeCee rolled her eyes. "I'm pressed for time, that's what I am. I have my own mission. And there'll be literal hell to pay if I mess this up." She eyed Anne with sharp intensity. "Right off of the top of your head - what do you need most right now?"

"I would say to return to my dimension… but I can feel it pulling me back so… nothing."

Chloe's eyes widened in shock. " _What_?"

"I was going to tell you, but then all this happened," Anne whispered apologetically.

"Oh," Chloe whispered back, unable to process exactly how she felt about that. On the one hand she'd always known that Anne couldn't stay, and yet on the other, she was going to miss her,  _a_ lot _._

"So, not the Superhero, the Adept." CeeCee focused those greens on Chloe with an intensity Chloe herself wished she possessed. This version of her was completely different from any of the others she'd met so far. Not only was she clearly very deadly, but she had a laser-like focus. While there was something clearly broken in her she hadn't allowed it to actually break her, in fact, she seemed to use whatever it was to strengthen her. If only Chloe could do that. If only she could stop being so scared all the time, could allow what had happened to her to be a part of her, but not define her the way it did.

Suddenly CeeCee reached out, surprising everyone when black-nailed fingers wrap around Chloe's own hands, which she clasped on the table tightly in front of her. CeeCee's grip was oddly cold, and yet it was cooling, relaxing. "This Lionel guy, he hurt you?"

Chloe flinched and nearly looked back at the others, not wanting this conversation in front of them. She didn't want to have this conversation at all.

CeeCee nodded, seemingly understanding what Chloe wasn't saying. "Is he dead?" When Chloe nodded shortly, she leaned back against the seat, allowing her hands to slip from Chloe's. "Now we can talk in private."

"What?" Chloe turned to Lincoln to ask him if he knew what she was talking about, only to find him frozen in place. He wasn't the only one, everyone else were still as well. " _How_ —?" She turned to CeeCee.

"I have abilities because of Valentine's experiments, but I'm not the only one he played around with, and sometimes we combine in  _really_  interesting ways," CeeCee muttered as she wiped the blood Chloe hadn't noticed from her fingertips. "You're the first living person we've tried this on." A trickle of crimson began to sneak its way down her right nostril, which she brushed away rapidly, her skin stained slightly. "I can't hold it for long though. It feels like my mind's tearing apart and it only gets worse the longer I hold this… I also don't know how long she can keep it up either."

Was this what Chloe herself looked like to others when she had her own episodes?

"She?" Chloe picked up on that quickly.

CeeCee just brushed the question away with the same brusqueness that she had the trail of blood. "Look, I want to help you. I just can't trust the Shadowhunters you have with you." She cleared her throat. "I don't have good relationships with their kind anymore."

"Shadowhunters?" Chloe leaned forwards. "What are you talking about?"

"Well,  _Shadowhunter_ ," CeeCee corrected immediately. "Or at least someone with Angelic ties. It's faint, and I didn't sense any Angelic Runes on him, so maybe he's been born Blind. Or he's just a Mundie with Nephilim ancestry." She must've seen Chloe's confusion immediately because she chuckled. "I have a thing for hot blonde Shadowhunters, so I wasn't too shocked when I realized hottie in the booth has Angelic ties."

Hottie in the booth?

Chloe's eyes widened. " _Dean_?"

"Is that his name?" CeeCee bit her bottom lip. "What about the other one? His partner? The really tall one? What's he? His community service?"

"Thats Dean's brother."

CeeCee looked shocked and leaned back hard in her seat. "Biological brother?"

"Yes." Why in the world would CeeCee looked so shocked about that? "They're whole brothers."

"Whole…" CeeCee shook her head. "I guess you guys must have your own Valentine."

A cold chill clutched Chloe's chest given the little she'd heard about this Valentine person he was Lionel Luthor levels of horrible. "What do you mean by that?"

CeeCee's dark purple lips opened to answer, when she flinched and brought her hands to her forehead as blood gushed down both nostrils. "I  _know_! I'll hurry up!" She glanced up at the ceiling before returning her sharp greens to Chloe. "Tick tock, Adept. How do I help you? What's wrong with you?"

There was so much she wanted know, needed to know, and yet, as Chloe's gaze lowered to her rapidly fading design, she knew she couldn't put it off any longer. "I need a Bonder, an Anchor, or I'll go crazy and die."

"Okay. What's the catch?"

She let out a deep breath. "I need someone who is strong, mentally and physically, and I need to be physical with him, which is hard for me."

Understanding crossed CeeCee's look as she nodded. "So what about your Shadowhunter or his 'brother'?" She air-quoted around brother, apparently still not convinced that Sam and Dean were actually brothers. "Then again, I wouldn't mix Angelic or… uh…" she was clearly stopping herself from finishing that part. "If my mother knew you were real you'd be in  _so_  much danger." She took a moment to visibly contemplate that, and gave a little shiver, which was odd, because why would Moira Sullivan knowing about Chloe being the Adept be all that bad? Just how much harm could she actually do? "What about Glasses? I get the redhead's with Superhero, but what about him? He's cute in a frumpy way." She made a face. "I couldn't be with him personally, but that's because he reminds me _way_  too much of a mixture of my brother and father… and even  _I_  am not that twisted."

"Brother?" Chloe's eyes widened as sudden realization hit her. "Who do you think is your father?"

CeeCee raised an eyebrow. "I  _know_  my father is Michael Wayland."

Not Gabe? "Your dad's actually Leroy Jethro Gibbs," Chloe explained, knowing this would be hard to explain. "I thought Gabriel Sullivan was my father, but the DNA test came back and—."

"Look, your father might be this Gibbs guy, but mine isn't. I was created from the sperm of Michael Wayland and the egg of Moira Laneara. I'm the last Wayland.  _That_  is  _my_  truth. I have both scientific and magical proof. So while your DNA might be traced back to this Gibbs guy, mine isn't."

Shock filled Chloe at the utter assurance on CeeCee's face. "But that's  _impossible_. We  _all_  have to have the same father! Otherwise we wouldn't be so identical! It's scientifically impossible otherwise! Your and Anne's real father  _has_ to be dad!"

"No, it doesn't. You seem to forget you're the Adept of the  _occult_ , not the scientific." CeeCee rolled her eyes and reached into her shirt to pull out a pendant which hung on one of the many other chains around her neck. This pendant looked like a black teardrop which had an oddly translucent sheen to it. "Look, there's no scientific way that can explain how I'm alive. What Valentine did to me - not even  _he_  intended for me to actually live. I was just supposed to die as a fetus so he could study the effects of all the crap he put into my human body." She leaned forwards against the table. "I am a scientific impossibility, and a magical one as well. And so are you. And I'm sure, in her own way, so is Anne. I think, if we're meant to be alive in a reality, we  _will_ , no matter  _who_  our biological father is."

"How can you take all of this with such aplomb?" Chloe whispered as she grabbed her hair with her hands, her headache growing worse and worse as her mind tried calculating the probabilities presented to her.

"I've gone through a  _lot_  lately," CeeCee admitted, and for the first time since Chloe had met her, her lookalike seemed vulnerable. "I've learnt to either roll with the punches or curl up and drown. I'm not much of a drowner." She gulped, a distant look in her eyes. "I've… I've lost almost everything I've ever - I - I don't know why I'm going to tell you this, but here we go." She clasped her hands tightly in front of her on the table and met Chloe's gaze. "I've only truly been in love with one person. He's the only person who ever made me feel…  _complete_." Tears gathered in her eyes but she visibly refused to let them fall. "I loved him like I didn't know possible, and I wasn't broken with him, I wasn't this… disgusting thing… that Valentine made me. I was… I was beautiful."

Chloe clutched the edges of the table tightly, able to hear echoes of her own deeply hidden feelings slipping out passed those darkly colored lips.

"I still love him, even though I know I shouldn't and that it'll only hurt the both of us." CeeCee took in a very deep breath, visibly trying to regain control of her emotions. "Because of… circumstances… which were out of both of our hands, we couldn't be together. So I let him go, because it was the best thing for him. He's free now, and it hurts like hell to hear about how eagerly he ran to freedom, how he's dating again while here I am, still crying over what we once were. But it's done." She took in another breath and played with a ring on her thumb which had a jewel Chloe didn't recognize. The jewel was surrounded and nestled by incredibly realities vines which almost seemed to move slightly, as if alive. "I went through a lot of crap, but I need to get over it and move on. I can't let every loss drag me down. I have to use them as stepping stones to continue rising."

Oh god. Chloe could continue to hear her own feelings and resentments in CeeCee. While she'd understood why Peter had done what he had, and had in fact helped him do so in an easier fashion for himself, a part of her that she'd never wanted to admit resented him for it. He'd left her. She'd needed him and he'd just turned his back and left her. He hadn't even called to check up on her and make sure that she wasn't dead. He'd meant  _so damned much_  to her, and yet he cared so little that he didn't even want to know whether his living had caused her death.

How could she have been so blind? How could she trust anyone if she couldn't see just how desperate Peter had been to get away from her?

"When guys try to… I see Lionel." Chloe hated the quiver in her own voice. "I get nauseas and terrified and… sometimes I forget I'm here and not there. I—I  _hate_  being this weak."

There was silence, and then a deep sigh. "You're so much stronger than you realize."

"No, I'm not."

"Are you kidding me?" CeeCee slammed her fists into the table, shocking Chloe into looking up at her through her tears. "You're the freaking Adept! You not only survived the process of becoming Adept, but you survived all the crap that this Lionel guy did to you! If the fade of your bond is anything to go by, you've survived a damned long time without an Anchor! You've got a  _team_  of people working for you!  _Government_  people! And from the looks of things when I was being brought in - you've been doing all of this while running active cases! You're dealing with inter-dimensional and inter-reality zaniness without even batting an eyelash!" CeeCee slammed her fists into the table once more. "You're not just strong, you're a freaking  _powerhouse_!"

Chloe stared at CeeCee's utter fury in wide-eyed surprise. CeeCee's eyes were glowing from deep within, the light which Chloe had thought extinct was not only there, but was an ethereal purple which matched the stone on CeeCee's ring.

"Did horrible things happen to you?  _Yes_. But damn it, Adept,  _look around you_. You've got a support system, people who love you - and believe me, if you're like me you can make it difficult for them. But they're here because they choose to be, because they like you, and because  _they know_  you're strong enough to do this." CeeCee took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself once more, not even seeming to notice the shift in her face, or the way her features seemed sharper somehow. Hell, even the tips of her ears seemed a bit pointed. "Don't you  _dare_  downplay that."

Chloe gulped, her throat swollen with emotion. She didn't understand the transformation before her, but she understood the sentiment in that tone.

Apparently realizing she'd lost control, CeeCee leaned back hard on her chair and glanced down at her own chest, clearly hesitating. She looked reluctant, incredibly so, and even flinched in apparent pain when she yanked off the chain holding the translucent black teardrop. "But, having said that, I understand being haunted." She clutched the pendant so hard it cut into her shaking palm, and yet she closed her eyes and held her hand out towards Chloe. "This will help."

Holding her hand out, Chloe caught the bloodied pendant in her palm, shocked when the second it made contact with her skin a sense of calm washed over like a warm blanket curling around her. "What is this?"

"My nightmares leak into everyday life too," CeeCee whispered, looking incredibly haunted and pale, all light gone in her eyes and ring as she stared ahead of her unseeingly. "Fade created this for me when it got too much for me to handle; the blood it's just soaked in should let it work for you as well, even if only temporarily." She looked shaken, her smile had lost much of its confidence. "It's not a solid fix to your problem, but it'll keep you from being overwhelmed - even if only long enough to help you find your  _permanent_  Anchor."

"What about you?" Chloe asked, her voice so soft to her own ears she was worried CeeCee wouldn't hear it. Then again, this was the girl who'd heard them clearly in the other room.

"You need it more than I do," CeeCee responded, although she couldn't quite replicate the smirk she'd seemed to have mastered earlier. "Anyway, if it gets bad again, Fade will make me another."

"But I can't—."

"Just  _take_  it." CeeCee's pupils expanded with the emphasized word, nearly covering up the green before returning to their normal size once more. What exactly had this Valentine guy  _done_  to CeeCee? While Anne was the version of herself that Chloe wished she could be - collected, able to connect with people - CeeCee was the version of herself that she had nightmares of sometimes. There was definitely something inhuman about this version of her, and it wasn't just the glowing eyes or expanding pupils, or her ability to make demons react negatively by just holding her hand out towards them. Whatever Valentine had done to this version of her, he'd managed to do something which not even Lionel had been able to do to Chloe herself: he'd made her completely unrecognizable from the person she'd once been.

And yet she was still trying to help.

Clutching the necklace tightly in her hand, Chloe smiled softly and pulled the chain around her neck. "Thank you." The warmth and sense of security that radiated from the necklace as soon as it hit her chest was amazing. There was a calm to her, she could sense its artificiality, could hear the whirring of thoughts and calculations deep in her brain, but at least for now she was able to just sit and relax.

"It will need to be recharged, so, once again, that isn't permanent," CeeCee warned, clearly on edge as she tapped her fingers against the desk's edge. "Look, I know there's more to this story than you've told me - but listen to me when I say this: You're the Adept, and I mightn't know much about it, but I do know that that's a position you chose to accept." She once more reached out and placed her hands over Chloe's. They were still ridiculously cold, but just like before, it was strangely comforting in its own way. "When I was telling you about—I got the feeling you had a Jace of your own, maybe not him exactly, but your equivalent of him." She hesitated a second before continuing. "If he left, you've got to let him go. It hurts like hell, I  _know,_ but everything happens for a reason. I'll always love Jace, but we can't be a part of each other's lives anymore, and I realize now how selfish it was of me to try and force him and Lois to be a part of what my life is right now, especially when they had the opportunity to live better lives." Emotion deepened her voice before she cleared it. "There's this really corny saying in my world: if you love someone—."

"—let them go," Chloe finished, her own voice thick with emotion. "We have it here too."

"I didn't have much choice in my life, but I chose to let him go for his own good, to not fight, and to accept life and how I had to move on after he left. I finally chose something in my life, and it hurt me  _badly_ , but I protected them with that choice, and I won't regret it, no matter how it turned out." CeeCee's green eyes stared deep into Chloe's. "It's okay to choose to go on, just as it's okay to cry and feel weak sometimes, but feeling weak and being weak are not the same thing. You're strong. You've got this. You just need to choose, Chloe. Stop facilitating your fear and your self-doubt, and just  _choose_."

"What if I regret my choice?" Chloe whispered, not having even realized just how much she'd feared that until right now.

"The only thing you'll for sure regret is when that choice is taken from you," CeeCee responded immediately, with the conviction of someone who'd suffered that same fate multiple times. "Do you remember the you you used to be before all this happened?"

The question surprised Chloe into pausing. It'd been so long since she'd stopped to think about her life before being an Adept.

"We were brash and impulsive, never stopping to think twice." CeeCee's smile was filled with dark nostalgia. "Was there a story? We were there, come hell, storm or metahuman. Nothing could stop us. Nothing could scare us away."

That was right.

"And then things got complicated and we both… we forgot about her, I think." CeeCee cleared her throat. "But  _that_  is who we are, Chloe. You're strong, smart, and too bullheaded to ever give up, no matter the personal danger that comes. And honestly, it's time you remember that."

She was getting a pep talk, and sass, from herself. And it was somehow working.

Suddenly CeeCee cried out and grabbed her head as blood gushed down her nostrils… and then the world quaked and shivered… and then there was a bright light, a flash of red, and when Chloe opened her eyes, she found herself seated on a park bench, with CeeCee on the other side of the bench, and a petite girl with fiery red hair standing next to them. Both CeeCee and the girl were bleeding profusely from their nostrils.

"Note to self - that  _cannot_  be a method of permanent detainment," the redhead coughed as she wiped at the blood staining her face with one hand, while clutching a notebook with her other. "You sure took your time."

"You could've taken us out the second we were out of there and somewhere safe," CeeCee responded.

Chloe looked around her in confusion. "How did we get out of the Fringe Division?"

"Is that what it's called?" The redhead asked before snorting. "Your anti-magic wards are strong, sure, but they don't do anything to us, it's not like we're warlocks." She looked between the two of them and shook her head. "It's weird, I mean, you two are identical, but even without the fashion choices I could tell which is which. I've never tried that out before." She continued to look Chloe over as if she were an interesting specimen, before she just as suddenly lost all interest in her. "You need to see this, Cee." Clary turned her back on Chloe and seemed to pull out a large file from out of nowhere, before she passed it to CeeCee.

"Hey!" Chloe recognized it immediately as their hardcopy file on the Tarot Murders. How in the world had this Clary girl not only get her and CeeCee out of the Fringe Division undetected – but managed to get their highly classified, and hidden/guarded hardcopy files? Especially when it appeared that the act of getting Chloe and CeeCee out had taken a lot of Clary, and left her stained in her own blood. "That's  _classified_."

Neither Clary nor CeeCee paid much attention to her as they huddled close together, eyeing the contents of the strictly confidential folder. CeeCee's eyes widened as she flipped through the pages, quicker and quicker. The twosome kept looking up and catching each other's gaze simultaneously as they flipped through certain pages, clear recognition sketched on their grim expressions.

"You know who's doing this," Chloe realized in wide-eyed shock. The Tarot Murders was the only open, unsolved case that she had continuously mounting in the Fringe Division, and not only had it left her frustratingly vexed and feeling useless every time a new body popped up, but she'd started worrying her inability to close that case would affect how the Pentagon viewed Fringe's productivity and effectivity.

"No, not who, not even what," Clary mumbled as she finally acknowledged Chloe. "But  _why_  is a different question all together."

"We've seen something similar in our world," CeeCee admitted as she passed the file back to Clary. "It's not the exact same, but the sigils and symbology you've noted in your case notes... it really fits the bill, just not the  _exact_  bill."

"What are you getting at?"

"It's a Strengthening," Clary declared point blankly, the folder suddenly gone, the only thing in her hands her sketchbook, which she was slipping into her leather jacket's inner pocket.

"A Strengthening?" Chloe asked, her mind working in the background, shocking her silent for a second at just how different this was. Usually the calculations overwhelmed everything else around her, and yet while she was very aware of them going on, they weren't overlapping reality and making it hard for her to be in the moment, to concentrate on what else was going on.

"We're actually working on a similar case right now," CeeCee admitted after a long look with Clary. "Except ours involves babies being sacrificed, not symbolic opposites."

Nausea and disgust filled Chloe at the thought. It was hard to do this job and see the death and carnage, but to imagine the Tarot Murders involving  _babies_ … oh god. Being unable to solve the murders would be even worse! No  _wonder_  Clary and CeeCee both looked grave and unhappy.

"There are rituals meant to strengthen certain types of beings who have been weakened or who just need more juice to do something  _big_ ," CeeCee explained with disgust. "Thing is, they're rarely ever done by the person receiving the benefits of the Strengthening, it's mostly by their acolytes or followers, or someone who  _wants_  to be a follower… and if the entity is strong and powerful enough it'll be very well known… so the possible culprits are innumerable."

Oh, yes, the math going on in her was agreeing with that. But despite everything Chloe couldn't help but smile. They now knew what the Tarot Murders were  _for_  they could do more calculations and searches and maybe narrow down suspects! They had a lead for the first time since the murders had begun! There was more hope for the case to be solved than there had been since it had first started! This was - this was  _great_!

Chloe gripped her teardrop pendant and smiled.

"Why does she have your Suppressant?" Clary suddenly asked, voice low and nearly angry as she turned on CeeCee. "Did you give it to her? Are you  _stupid_?"

Suppressant? Wasn't this supposed to be a calming tool?

"She needs it more than I do," CeeCee explained in a careful tone.

"Bull _shit_  she does!" Clary snapped, very clearly pissed at this point, having gone from 0 to 100 in two seconds flat. "You can't function without that damned thing!" She turned to Chloe, hand outstretched. "Give it back."

CeeCee slapped the redhead's hand away. " _Enough_."

"I can  _already_ feel it unravelling, I just didn't know what it was until right now!" Clary snapped, but something in CeeCee's face made her back down. "This is a mistake. It won't even work permanently for her." And yet she shoved her hands in her jacket's pocket and let out a moody breath. " _Fine_. I got your glamour and weapons back, by the way. You're welcome."

Just how the hell had Clary been able to traipse around so easily in the Fringe Division? Not only had she stolen the girls from the building, but she'd taken classified documents and had gotten into the weapons and evidence storage facilities! This was just a slap in the face!

Their security had always seemed airtight, not even demons of Azazel's caliber could get a toe in without setting off all kinds of alarms! So what in the hell were CeeCee and Clary? They said they didn't use magic, but there was no way that what they could do was possible without magic of some kind.

What exactly was this Suppressant suppressing in CeeCee? Was it related to the way her eyes changed so frequently and her 'force use'? She'd been experimented on, and had insinuated that Clary and others had been experimented on as well, and while that made Chloe believe this might be a genetic mutation thing, there were things that they could do that no normal genetic mutation could explain. Magic had to be involved somehow, so how was it not tripping her magical alarms in the city, or in Fringe itself?

What else was there?

"We're keeping your Strengthening folder, you obviously have an electronic copy." There was no asking, juts a statement as CeeCee turned her attention to Clary. "Did you get back your-?"

Clary's answer was to pull out her own necklace and slip it on, becoming a nondescript black haired girl who was just as forgettable as CeeCee's disguise. She reached into her pocket and pulled out CeeCee's glamoured pendant, which had been locked away in evidence.

"Can't go home without these." Smiling, CeeCee yanked it on and became the brunette from the footage.

Why did they have to mask their appearance? Chloe had thought that CeeCee had disguised herself because she was in a world with another her, but obviously the disguise was for  _her own world_.

"You should go," Clary told Chloe, not unkindly, in fact she appeared a little concerned. "Your friends are probably having a nervous breakdown trying to figure out what happened and where you are."

"What if you find out more about the Strengthening?" Chloe found herself reluctant to leave. "If you can jump realities so easily is there a way for us to, I don't know, keep in contact?"

"You think this was easy?" Clary laughed wryly. "We nearly died coming here."

CeeCee, for her part, seemed to have forgotten about Chloe. She slipped a dagger out of Clary's back pocket and cut her finger open, bringing blood to the surface. With that she walked towards the closest tree and began to trace sigils on the tree in her own blood, drawing them into a large oval design.

Clary's eyes clouded over, her face went lax, and then she pulled out a stick that looked like a small glowing wand. She seemed to have forgotten about Chloe as well as she joined CeeCee by the tree and began to flesh out a design around CeeCee's.

Chloe should've probably gone like she was told, yet not even the Suppressant could keep her mind at bay as it recorded what was going on. CeeCee and Clary worked in tandem, as if seeing the same design and working together to complete it… which was good, because the design was incredibly complex and would've taken one person forever to do alone. CeeCee's strokes were strong, powerful, while Clary's betrayed clear artistic talent.

Twin trickles of blood dripped down their nostrils yet they ignored them and continued to work together. Their odd tattoos were either darker or the girls themselves were growing paler with each passing moment, either way the contrast between pale and dark was growing more and more by the second. Their faces scrunched in pain, whatever they were doing was obviously taking a lot out of them but they persisted until light and darkness began to gather around the sigils, filling in the grander design.

The Suppressant was valiantly fighting her mind, which was seriously geeking. Chloe didn't even fight it, the Adept just as intrigued. She sat on the ground and watched the two girls working, and then the inside of the oval design began to shimmer like glass hit by light. How could they have gone through all this detail while fighting those creatures in their world?

Finally, when it was done, Clary sat on the ground, head in her hands. CeeCee leaned against the tree on the side of the glowing design and breathed very heavily, both girls clearly fatigued.

Chloe pushed to her feet and found herself standing in front of what was now a portal, and on the other side was a different park, but just as empty as this one was. "How could you guys have done that while fighting those things?"

"We didn't." Clary sounded in pain. "Cee used what I like to call a Shortcut Rune, but we don't usually use those."

"Unless we have some pesky demons whose lives we can use to fuel it," CeeCee agreed, very much out of breath. "It was a win-win, we got them away from there, and the rune killed a bunch of them, making our job that much easier." She opened her mouth to say something else, when she stopped and frowned, staring intently at something.

Chloe followed her gaze to realize CeeCee was looking intently at the inside of Chloe's wrist, as if she could see something that wasn't there, or at least something that Chloe herself couldn't see, and given everything that she'd learnt today, there was definitely things out there she didn't know – at least not until she fully accessed her full capacity as Adept.

What was CeeCee seeing? What was there?

CeeCee pushed away from the tree and made a slow, tired trek towards Chloe, acting as if every step was a momentous effort. The blonde moved herself behind the redhead's line of sight, and pressed a blood-soaked finger to her lips before grabbing Chloe's wrist and turning it upwards. CeeCee pressed her fingertip to Chloe's inner wrist and slowly drew a symbol there with the concentration of someone tracing out a design. When it was done she eased Chloe's hand into her pocket, clearly hiding what she'd done from Clary.

What did that symbol mean? Chloe tried to ask CeeCee that with her eyes, but the look CeeCee gave her surprisingly enough conveyed CeeCee didn't know either. So why had she drawn it on her? And why on her wrist? And why keep it secret from Clary?

Instead of answering any questions, CeeCee surprised her by hugging her tightly. She used the opportunity to talk softly into Chloe's ear. "We're a lot of things, Adept, but above all else, we're survivors." With that she pulled away, squeezed Chloe's shoulders, and then smirked as she backed towards the glowing portal. "We have to go now, it's not going to stay open much longer."

Clary nodded, already waiting for her beside it. "Take care of yourself, Alternate Cee." And with that she jumped through the portal into the other side.

CeeCee took a step backwards, and another, before waving and turning, jumping through as well, and when she did, the portal closed behind her immediately, all proof of it having existed completely gone.

Chloe remained standing there long after they'd left. One hand clutched the Suppressant, and the other turned upwards for her to examine the mark left on her and allow her brain to compute and categorize it.

Something pinged in her mind, somewhere a match had been made, but when she tried to access the file it was locked away in a classified and encrypted hard drive deep within her – completely inaccessible… at least for now. Once she got a permanent Anchor though…

For the first time in a long time, the idea of a permanent Bonder made her excited, and not nervous or terrified… and for some reason she didn't think that was because of the Suppressant.


	7. Chapter 7

"Sacrifices to  _who_  though?" Lincoln sat hunched over his seat, staring up at the holographic screens showing the crime scene pictures, as well as everything they knew about the victims. The last couple of hours had been an insane rush of experiences – first John Scott, then the airplane, then  _CeeCee_. It was lot to happen in just one day, he didn't blame the others for having gone back home given how late it was at night, but he couldn't sleep, not with everything in his mind.

"I've been looking through dad's journals to see if there's any mention of this Strengthening, or if there's been mention of a similar ritual being done, but so far nothing," Sam muttered from where he was seated, currently going through his father's journal for what seemed like the tenth time that night. "If only dad wasn't always so incommunicado I could talk to him and ask him." He glanced over at his phone. "I'm hoping Bobby might have something for us, I mean, he's got one of the most expansive databases in regards to the occult, as well as hunter's recollections, that I know of."

"Chloe's been coordinating with him in regards to resources," Lincoln muttered as he ran his hand down his face. "As long as she doesn't have a permanent Anchor, and can't fully access her database, she's going to need all the help she can get."

There was a pause before Sam put a marker in the journal and snapped it closed as he turned to face Lincoln. "Look, I get why you're trying to push my brother towards her, but you're making a huge mistake. They're not right for each other."

Lincoln sneered as he kept his gaze on the pictures.

"What's with the sneer?" Sam wanted to know, voice unhappy.

He almost didn't answer, and it really wasn't his place to say this, but Sam's attitude towards this whole situation had really been rubbing him the wrong way for a bit now. Wasn't Sam supposed to be one of the guys usually paired with Chloe in her alternate realities? Then why was this version of Sam such a selfish son of a bitch?

"They're very compatible, just like  _you_  and her are very compatible, which is why I don't get why you're being such an asshole about all of this." Lincoln twirled his seat so he could face Sam. Sure, he might be taking his frustration out on Sam unfairly, but better Sam than Chloe. "You know how there are different realities? Well, in  _most_  of them, Chloe is with you or Dean, or with  _both_  of you."

Sam's eyes widened in utter shock. " _What_?"

"I don't really remember it because of Coyote's hijinks, but I met a version of Chloe and Dean who had a son named Dorian, and Coyote told Chloe there's even an alternate version of that reality in which Chloe and Dean still have Dorian, but she's with you instead of him." Lincoln let out a very deep breath. "If Peter can't be her Anchor I was sure that  _you two_ … but you refuse to even  _consider_  it even though it's the only thing that's going to keep her alive, and honestly, if that's the case you don't fucking deserve her. At least Dean offered to be her temporary Bonder."

Sam looked like he'd been kicked, but also looked very intrigued and a little annoyed. Interestingly enough, he didn't seem annoyed with Lincoln despite everything the guy was telling him now.

"So you two, my golden hopes, are out of the running and I'm pissed off. Do you even get how little time she actually has?" Lincoln pushed up to his feet and began to pace. This was really bothering him, and it was getting bad. He doubted anyone else got just how bad things could get if the situation didn't change soon. "Do you even  _care_? Because I don't get the feeling you do… which makes me want to punch you in your stupidly perfect face."

Was he the only one who'd bothered to study up on the Adept and Anchor? Was he the  _only one_  who understood just how  _bad_  this was? How little time they actually had?

"Dude, I care, okay? I don't know Chloe well, but she's a nice person. Sure, she's  _very_  weird, but-."

"She's got twelve skulls worth of ancient, mystical information forced into her own, and hasn't been given the codes needed to access – much less control that information or how it affects her own perception or actions – she's allowed to be eccentric," Lincoln cut in defensively.

"Lincoln, I get that," Sam tried as he shifted fully in his seat to face the guy as well.

"No, you  _don't_ , or you'd be  _terrified_!" Lincoln stood, unable to keep in the seat any longer. "You don't understand her manias and Dean doesn't get her Chloespeak. You two were the  _perfect matches_ , don't you get that? And if neither of you fit the bill  _no one_ will!" He kicked his chair so violently it rolled into the wall and fell on its side. "And Peter, meanwhile, won't even picked up the damned phone!"

He expected Sam to be seriously pissed by now, and yet when he turned to the younger Winchester he saw utter sympathy on his face, which proved Sam really  _wasn't_  as big of an asshole as Lincoln wanted to believe. Instead of even trying to defend himself, Sam merely sat there and motioned for Lincoln to continue.

So Lincoln did, because there wasn't anyone he could actually vent these feelings to, and because he'd hit someone soon if he didn't. "She's fighting the stain."

Sam frowned and leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. "That's what happened to her when we kidnapped her, right? The black burn?" His face was pure concern. "That's back?"

"It comes and goes, but her fingertips get it every so often, and it keeps happening more and more often," Lincoln admitted as he leaned hard against the wall. "I haven't been saying anything because she hasn't brought it up, but every time I see it it's climbed a bit higher than last time. It's up to her knuckles now."

"Why has nobody else noticed this?" Sam asked in confusion.

"She wears gloves most of the time now, even inside the building, so it's hidden."

"Then how do you know it's happening if you can't see it?" Sam asked curiously.

"She can't keep back the hiss, it's sudden, without warning, and painful." Lincoln gazed towards her office, which was empty a the moment. Anne and Tess were over at Tess', most probably sleeping at this hour, and Jared had been sent home since he'd been falling asleep all over the place despite his efforts to stay awake. Chloe and Dean had gone to get coffee for those who stayed behind. "She'll subtly remove herself from the rest of the group, pretend to be tending to something else urgently, but she's actually staring at her hands while they shake and burn."

Sam was incredibly silent.

"I'm sorry for taking my frustration out on you," Lincoln apologized with a deep breath as he removed his glasses and cleaned them. "You didn't deserve that."

Sam opened his mouth but then closed it, thought over what he was about to say, then finally said it. "Look, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. Even if you just need to vent, it's okay. I doubt you can say this to anyone else, they're too close to the situation, whereas me? I'm on the outskirts."

Lincoln was about to tell him he didn't need that, but stopped himself and sighed. "I might just take you up on that offer."

* * *

**ERROR! YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO VIEW THIS FILE!**

A growl escaped Chloe's lips as she deleted the search term 'Shadowhunter' and stared at the thread of code indicating exactly where the term was buried in her subconscious. It was the same damned sector that held all the other terms she'd been researching. All of her previous searches had come up with mostly general results, but all had offered key words paired with those words, and every single one that seemed promising led back to that specific locked grid.

She tried the keywords 'Valentine' and 'experiments'.

**ERROR! YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO VIEW THIS FILE!**

"Why do you think she didn't believe Sam and I are whole brothers?" Dean's voice brought her back to reality, reminding her she wasn't at her desk, but instead in the Impala (which had finally arrived) heading back to headquarters with tons of coffee and food.

"I don't know," she admitted as she typed in 'Nephilim' and 'runes' and pressed the holographic  **ENTER**  button. "But I think it's because she believed you had some sort of Angelic 'ties' as she put it, while apparently Sam does not."

**ERROR! YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO VIEW THIS FILE!**

"She's obviously insane," Dean muttered to himself as he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "If I had some sort of 'Angelic ties' all the horrible things that happened to my family wouldn't have." He paused, and then cleared his throat. "And if I  _do_ , which I don't believe, I'd be so pissed off they let everything happen."

'Portal' 'small wand' 'blood symbols' and 'demons'.

**ERROR! YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO VIEW THIS FILE!**

'Zoberian demon'.

A hit.

Chloe's eyes widened in shock as she double-clicked the link in front of her, watching as the holographic screen only she could see popped up, revealing a hideously ugly creature similar to the one that had melted away to nothing ten minutes after CeeCee had killed it. "I've got a hit on the demon."

"That's something at least," Dean announced with a forced grin, apparently still sore at the thought of his supposed Angelic ties and their utter uselessness. "What does it say?"

"Not much, actually, it's more like a quick summary of the type of demon more than an actual page on it." And yet it was something. "Apparently they are classified as 'follower demons'."

"Say what now?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"They follow, or serve, a higher, greater power," Chloe responded immediately, having had the same questions the first time she'd come across that term in her lexicon. "They find a master and stick with him or her faithfully, performing any task required, even if it's clearly a suicide mission."

"Do we think they're the ones doing the Strengthening ritual?" Dean asked a very good question.

"I don't think so, it says the Zoberian race of demons are very rare, almost extinct, probably because of their willingness to die for their master. According to this, there are very few realities in which they still reside, and this isn't one of them. Ever since Lucifer disappeared they vanished from our reality, and it's believed that it's because there wasn't anyone in our reality strong enough to keep them interested in staying."

But that could, of course, change if Lucifer got free. He wasn't dead, she knew that much, but he was trapped. He was still alive and kicking, probably hoping to get free one day. That was why Azazel had wanted to be her Anchor, after all, so that the location of Lucifer's imprisonment could be made known and the imprisonment be made void. It was only one of the many reasons why picking a Bonder was such an important task. The fate of the world could depend on it.

She tried to click on the link which read  _Click to view realities/alternate worlds in which Zoberian Demons are still known to exist as of our last update_ , but as soon as she did:

**ERROR! YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO VIEW THIS FILE!**

"Damn it!" She snapped, slamming her palm into the glovebox in frustration.

"Heyheyheyhey! No one abuses My Baby!" Dean grabbed her hand and yanked it away, rubbing down the glove soothingly. "Sorry Girl, she didn't mean it."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, confused by his actions. "Is your car possessed by a loved one who has passed away?"

"No, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have  _feelings_ ," Dean muttered as he straightened up and returned to driving normally.

Chloe eyed the glovebox in open curiosity. "So she's a strange new sort of Artificial Intelligence."

"What?  _No_."

Confusion welled in her as she turned in her seat to face him. "Then I don't understand. Why do you talk to her and act like that?"

"Because she's not just a cold slab of metal, she has a soul, okay?" He must've seen her wide-eyed shock in a sidelong glance because he groaned. "It's not a  _real_  soul! I'm just saying—we have a bond, okay? This car has been with me when Sam and dad had better things to do, it's my one constant, and I won't let anyone abuse her."

Chloe had seen unreasonable emotional attachments before, but this was probably the worse one yet. His sense of abandonment from family figures, and subsequent loneliness, had amalgamated into an unhealthy, dependent relationship with his  _vehicle_. What would happen to him the day it got totaled in a crash or something? Someone as unreasonably emotional like that couldn't be trusted.. What if she was having a bad episode the same time his car got damaged? Could she trust him to be sound of mind enough to push back the inexplicable feelings he had for a cold hunk of metal and concentrate on what was actually important?

 _But it IS important – to him_.

She frowned at the little voice in her head, which sounded a lot like a tired Lincoln. It was right. While she couldn't really understand this sort of attachment or devotion to an inanimate object that would never be able to reciprocate, she had to respect Dean's feelings – no matter how senseless they appeared to her ever-analytical mind.

"That's it?" Dean asked after a moment. "I expected more comments, you definitely looked like you wanted to say something else."

"Lincoln stopped me," she admitted with some embarrassment. "He reminded me that I wasn't being considerate of your emotions. Just because I do not understand your unusual and unreciprocated attachment doesn't make it any less valid."

"Wait, are you using an earpiece still?" Dean asked incredulously.

"What? Why would you-?  _Ohhhhh_. No. It's just that I'm around Lincoln so much my inner monologue now sounds like a very exasperated version of him," Chloe admitted before catching Dean's expression. "What?"

"Why haven't you asked him to be your Anchor?"

"I work with him, it would be unethical," Chloe muttered as she glanced out of the window at the dark world passing them by.

" _I_  work with you," Dean reminded her.

"You're always on the road," she countered.

"I wouldn't if I became your Anchor," Dean corrected immediately. "If I did I'd be stuck here, in Washington,  _working with you_."

Chloe opened her mouth and then closed it, frowning. "It's just different."

"How?" He pressed.

"It just  _is_ ," she snapped, and then blinked in surprise at her own response. "I don't know why I snapped. I apologize. That was out of order."

He didn't seem at all bothered, instead was smirking as he pulled in towards the keycard entrance to the parking lot, flashing his key fob and waiting for the security bar to rise and allow them entrance.

* * *

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was one of the only people who wasn't a Fringe Division Agent who had full access to their side of the building, and that was because Vance knew it would only be a pain in  _his_  ass if he tried to restrict Gibbs' access to his daughter. That was why Gibbs could easily flash his fob at the various checkpoints and enter the Fringe Division, walking down the hallways passed the multiple security wards etched or painted into the walls.

These wards had made him feel very secure when it came to Chloe's safety, but then CeeCee had come along and ruined that. Not only had she and her friend managed to enter Fringe Division and get away with evidence and hardcopy files, but Anne had discovered upon checking their equipment that while CeeCee was being interrogated this Clary girl had apparently made a copy of their digital files. Not only that, but they couldn't figure out  _how_  she'd gotten in passed the human and magical security measures, how she'd done her stealing, or how she'd gotten out with Chloe and Clary… because Clary didn't appear on any of the security cameras.

The abduction (Chloe was vetoing that word saying it was too harsh, but it was an abduction, plain and straight) hadn't shown up either. One second they were in the interrogation room, then CeeCee placed her hands on Chloe's, and then they weren't.

Gibbs' feathers were officially ruffled.

Pushing open the doors to what should be a rec room but had been converted into a large room dedicated solely to the Tarot Murders, he wasn't surprised to find Chloe and Lincoln still there, those two seemed to live in their offices lately (considering Gibbs did the same he couldn't exactly scold her, now, could he?), but he  _was_  surprised to find Sam and Dean there as well. He'd thought they'd be in their motel at this time of night, getting rest for what promised to be a very hectic day.

"Hey dad!" Chloe greeted with a smile as Lincoln stood from his seat next to her and made his way towards one of the table. Gibbs doubted she'd ever understand just how happy she'd made him ever since she'd started finally calling him that.

"Sorry to drop by unexpectedly," he began.

Lincoln stepped in between them and held out coffee and food. "It wasn't  _that_  unexpected."

Smirking, Gibbs took the food and coffee, nodded to Lincoln, and went to sit down next to Chloe. "So, what do we got?"

"Not much," Chloe sighed as she typed into air. Apparently there was a whole holographic keyboard and screen set up she had that only she could see, but to Gibbs it always looked as if she was playing with the air. "The only thing I've managed to get to work is a brief description of the demons CeeCee brought over from her reality and killed."

"They're follower demons," Dean offered, looking very proud to be able to contribute that.

"So they stalk people?" Gibbs asked in confusion. Give him a terrorist, arsonist, murderer – anything  _normal_  and he was at the very top of his game, but these magical hijinks still left him feeling like a grade schooler.

"No, it means they follow a stronger demon, or being," Lincoln muttered around his sandwich from where he now sat on the armrest next to Chloe, his gaze on the pictures Jared had gotten of the demon before it had, apparently, melted away to nothing. "If CeeCee can be trusted-."

"She  _can_ ," Chloe responded with the annoyance of someone who'd been assuring this continuously.

"-then we can piece together that these demons were trailing her and reporting back to some other, greater power, who must've been monitoring her and her partner's own Strengthening case. So while those demons mightn't be the ones who are sacrificing the victims, they are working for the entity who is being Strengthened." Lincoln bit into his sandwich and chewed for a moment before standing and going closer to the Wall of Weird, as Chloe called it. "They're not Strengthening the same being as our case is, either, because the methods of Strengthening are different."

"Plus we don't have those demons here because we apparently don't have very strong demons in our dimension – which is terrifying to think of," Dean muttered from where he sat next to a large slice of apple pie. "So they definitely aren't the ones doing this on our side."

"We have some  _very_  strong demons though, so it's a little insulting," Sam declared as he flipped through his book. "I mean, we have Knights of Hell and everything. How are they not strong enough for these demons to worship?"

"I don't know, it just said that with Lucifer gone they didn't stick around," Chloe responded tiredly, looking like she hadn't slept in days, which she probably hadn't.

"The lack of these demons on our side isn't really important though," Lincoln announced as he finished his sandwich and flung it into the garbage can next to him. "We mightn't have intensely powerful demons – supposedly – but we  _do_  have someone trying to Strengthen a being who could very well  _be_  a demon. We need to try and figure out  _who_  it is."

"Do you even  _know_  the amount of mythological figures out there?" Dean wanted to know while digging into his piece of pie. "Just the ones in Christian mythology alone are overwhelming. There's no way that we can narrow down anything with what we have."

"That's not true," Lincoln responded, and suddenly everyone's eyes were on him. "I mean, we know now that the murders are actually sacrifices, right? And where do we have written examples of sacrifices? The Bible." At Dean and Sam's intrigued looks, Lincoln turned to Chloe. "You told me, remember, about what happened when you first met John. Because of that we know Azazel's sacrifice, and using that we can deduct approximately what these sacrifices are-."

Chloe's eyes widened. "Lincoln, you're a  _genius_!"

"Nah." He shook his head. "I just pay attention."

Chloe stared up at him with an odd expression as her eyebrows nearly touched in a frown.

"Wait, where in the Bible does it talk about Azazel's sacrifices?" Sam wanted to know.

"A goat for Azazel," Gibbs muttered, remembering the incident far too well for his own good. "His name means the wild goat or something right?"

"Scapegoat," Chloe corrected distractedly as she cleared her throat and returned to typing on her invisible keyboard.

"But Azazel's not a  _goat_ ," Dean pointed out in confusion.

"I think it's the  _symbology_  of the offering that matters, not exactly the offering itself." Chloe was typing rapidly into the air once more, brushing things in front of her to the side and typing and typing and typing. "Symbolic opposites."

"Huh?" Sam asked curiously.

"It's something CeeCee said about the sacrifices, she called them 'symbolic opposites', which means that if we're going by that, they somehow reflect the being, or at least an important aspect of the being, who they are Strengthening."

"So we just need to find a being who has aspects of symbolic duality!" Sam grinned, diving back into his book.

A hiss escaped Chloe's lips as she suddenly jolted to her feet, her expression forced. "I think I might have another book for you to look over. I'll bring it." She walked stiffly across the room, her back to them as she reached one of the bookshelves and pressed the palms of her hands hard into the edge of one of the shelves while trying to read the names on the spines of the books.

She really needed to rest. This was really taking a toll on her.

Gibbs turned to Lincoln to convince him they needed to spike her drink with some sleeping pills, when he noticed the way Sam's gaze boomeranged from staring at Chloe's back, to look at Lincoln in wide-eyed surprise. Lincoln, on the other hand, frowned darkly at Chloe's back, clearly unhappy. He definitely wouldn't need much convincing to Gibbs' plan.

Before Gibbs could offer his suggested course of attack, Lincoln was on his feet and had grabbed Chloe's cup of coffee. He riffled through his pocket and pulled out a half empty bottle of tablets and went to stand next to Chloe. He didn't say anything, merely placed the cup on top of the shelf she was pressed against, left two tablets on the cover, and then returned to where he'd been seated before.

Dean raised his eyebrows at Sam, who sighed and tilted his head slightly in acknowledgment.

"Sorry, I must have the book at home," Chloe finally announced from the corner, voice strained as she reached for the cup and downed the pills with the contents of the drink. She finally turned to face them and smiled tiredly as she returned to her seat and threw her empty cup into the garbage can. She pulled off her gloves and threw them onto her lap, her hands looked sweaty. "I'll look for it when I get home."

"That's okay," Sam assured her. "Maybe you should just go home and rest for a bit."

Okay, point to Sam.

"I want to, I really do, but my mind won't stop working, not even with the Suppressant," Chloe admitted tiredly as she began to type into the air more gingerly this time. "I just feel that if I can crack this sector and review its contents I might be able to better understand things."

"This is the one that has information on CeeCee's world, right?" Lincoln asked curiously as he watched her fingers. "What was its codename again?"

"Raziel," Chloe muttered unhappily under her breath. "And the only thing I can get on him is a brief description. He's an Angel who is the Keeper of Secrets, as well as the Angel of Mysteries. The rest is classified until I get full access to my hard drives."

"Chloe, you're stretching yourself out too thin," Lincoln said in a soft yet stern voice. "You don't  _need_  to crack that sector yet. You  _want_  to. You're just going to tire yourself out more than you have to by divvying up the searches like that."

"But Lincoln, it's obviously connected!" She glared up at him with narrowed eyes. "Two versions of me are investigating the same case! Kind of! It has to  _mean_  something!"

"Yes, but you've got to trust CeeCee to handle  _her own_  investigation," Lincoln responded calmly. "How would you like it if she was over there trying to hone in on your case? She could be missing clues, or not picking up on them as quickly as she usually would, because she's not paying complete attention to her own case. Helping each other by sharing information learnt is one thing, taking over and getting consumed is another."

Chloe's lips parted in further argument, before they wavered and finally pressed together in a grim line. "I just remembered you're supposed to be suspended."

Instead of rising to the bait, Lincoln eyed her curiously.

She fidgeted under his gaze. " _What_?"

"I'm just wondering if there's a version of you who is a sweet, bright ray of sunshine," he admitted,

Chloe's lips parted in utter insult as she slapped his arm. "What are you trying to say?"

"Gees!" He rubbed said arm, apparently very confused. "I'm just saying if there's a version of you that's like CeeCee, there has to be one who is her complete opposite! You know, they're both you but they'd be polar opposites, darkness and light? That's all!"

Suddenly Chloe froze, her previous insult apparently completely forgotten. " _No_."

Lincoln's eyes narrowed as he stopped rubbing his arm. "What is it?"

Sam and Dean shared looks.

"Kid?" Gibbs asked, finally breaking his silence, able to see the color drain from her.

" _Nononononononononononono_ ," Chloe whispered desperately under her breath as she typed rapidly, furiously, into the air. " _Nonononononononononnononononono_."

"What's wrong?" Dean asked as he finally stood. "What's going on?"

" _Lincoln_ ," Sam hissed.

Lincoln raised his hand to silence them as he watched Chloe, his eyebrows nearly disappearing into his hairline when she suddenly reached out and grabbed his thigh, gripping it  _tightly_.

Chloe stared ahead of her in horror before she turned to Lincoln. "I think I know who the sacrifices are Strengthening."

"Who?" Gibbs asked, extremely worried. His daughter was used to supernatural horror, so to see her this shaken and scared left him completely unhinged. "Who is it, honey?"

She turned those wide, scared eyes on him before lowering them to the ground, as if unable to actually say it.

Lincoln hesitated visibly before placing his hand very lightly on the one she still had gripping his thigh. "Chloe? We can't follow your silent train of thought, you have to pull yourself out of it and tell us with words."

"Right. I keep forgetting-," she whispered before her green eyes rose to meet Lincoln's worried gaze. "What you said-it made me think—and it makes sense—horrible—horrible sense." Her free hand rose to clutch the necklace CeeCee had given her – the one Gibbs still wasn't certain she should be wearing so trustingly. "That would be the greatest symbolic reversal ever created, an arcane polarity so monstrous it would be funny if not so destructive. It's even in the  _name,_ just like Azazel."

Lincoln's eyes suddenly widened as his grip on her hand visibly tightened. "You don't mean-?"

She nodded wordlessly.

Gibbs was still confused, horribly so, and from the looks on Sam and Dean's faces, they were lost as well.

"Look, no one else speaks whatever language you two are using," Dean announced, clearly filled with nervous anxiety, his slice of pie completely forgotten. "So spell it out for us: Who is being Strengthened?"

"I think…" Chloe hesitated once more before she finally turned to look at Dean, Sam and Gibbs. " _Lucifer_."


	8. Chapter 8

If Lucifer was truly the one being Strengthened by the Tarot Murders, Chloe couldn't continue the way she'd been doing. This wasn't some low-level baddie. This wasn't some fringe weirdo. This wasn't some around-the-park jaunt. This was  _Lucifer_. This was the Morning Star. The Light Bringer. The  _devil_.

He was yet another part of her knowledge base which wasn't accessible, but what she  _did_  know was that he was trapped  _somewhere_. Or being detained somewhere. Basically, he was confined and had been for a very long time. But nothing was eternal, and if there was someone, or a group of someones, trying to Strengthen him, then he could very well escape. And if he did, it was all  _her fault_.

If she'd gotten a permanent Bonder when she should've she would have all the knowledge she needed to not only figure out what was going on before so many innocents were killed – but would know more about where Lucifer was being held captive, and how best to make sure that he remained there.

All in all, she must be the worst Adept to have ever existed.

"No more stalling," she told her reflection in the bathroom as she clutched the sink tightly. "You don't need a temporary Bonder, you need a  _permanent_  one. Just bite the bullet and decide for once! Peter isn't coming back. You can't do to Dean what you did to him. There is no Hail Mary. Hell. You got your Hail Mary when CeeCee gave you this Suppressant." Her gaze lowered to the pendant lying against her chest and wondered for a split second if that was where this bravado was coming from, before her gaze returned to her reflection. "You need to select a permanent Bonder, Chloe Gibbs. You need to select one  _now_."

Her fingers dug into the porcelain as she glared at herself. She needed to be more like CeeCee and less like herself right now. She needed that brash toughness, that insane strength that just  _oozed_  out of her alternate self.

Letting go of the sink, she twisted her arm around and pulled up her sleeve to reveal the symbol CeeCee had drawn onto her inner wrist with her blood. Chloe didn't know why she'd kept it a secret from the others, maybe it was CeeCee's keeping it a secret from Clary despite not being sure exactly what it did. Despite merely being drawn with blood, the symbol had dried upon her skin and wouldn't wash away. It was almost tattoo-ish now, and while Chloe usually wasn't too fond of unknown sigils littering her body she felt oddly protective of this one.

She didn't know what made CeeCee so different from her and Anne, but she wished she had some of it.

Her Suppressant glowed seconds before the tattoo did as well, and then a jolt of heat and cold twirled inside of her like a tornado. Chloe gasped and instinctively looked at her reflection in time for it to disappear, and instead of herself, she saw a market filled with what could only be types of demons. They were demons, right? They looked human, but  _not_.

What was she seeing?

 _Why_  was she seeing it?

Was this Lucifer related?

Was it Adept related?

And then the POV shifted and Chloe's eyes widened when she saw familiar red hair, and everything made sense. This wasn't Adept or Lucifer related – this was  _sigil_  related.  _She_  wasn't seeing this.  _CeeCee_  was.

_"Do you know how hard it is to sneak away from a boyfriend with superspeed and superhearing?" Clary wanted to know as she pulled her hood over her fiery red hair. "I'm still not a hundred per cent he's not spying on me right now."_

_"Thus the Silence rune," CeeCee replied as she motioned to a sigil on her forearm._

_"Yup," Clary agreed as she pulled out that small wand of hers and ran it over a much faded version of it on her own arm, causing it to re-burn itself on her skin. She flinched and bore the pain before motioning to CeeCee with the wand and passing it over her sigil, burning it darker onto her skin as well. Unlike with Clary's, though, CeeCee's skin let out tendrils of smoke, and it clearly hurt CeeCee more than it had Clary. "I hate doing this to you."_

_"You know Angelic runes don't quite work out the same for me anymore," CeeCee muttered as she held her wrist, voice strained. "Plus, Lilith took my stele since 'it was holding me back during training', so I can only rely on you now."_

_"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Clary sighed as she put her wand…stele…away. "What did Titania want this time?"_

_"It doesn't matter, she got us what we needed without anything being traceable to us, just like she always does," CeeCee answered, clearly hedging._

_"Cee, you're getting in major debt with the Seelie Queen, that isn't smart. Everyone knows that Seelies don't help you out of the goodness of their hearts, and from what I can tell, she's always had her sight on you." Clary's eyebrows nearly touched in a frown. "Just because you're part Fair Folk doesn't mean you can trust her."_

_"I know that," CeeCee responded immediately. "But what choice do we have? We can't get help from the Shadowhunters, not only would they not believe us, but they'd probably kill me on sight. We can't trust Werewolves because they might be able to smell through my glamour. I was around tons of them during the Battle of Idris, they might realize I'm not dead and tell the Elders, or worse, Lois. All the Warlocks we know are either loyal to Lilith, or in an alliance with Magnus Bane. Demons are most definitely all loyal to Lilith. That leaves the Fair Folk. They're the only choice we have if we want to stop those babies from being slaughtered."_

_Clary visibly didn't like what she was being told, but had to agree with it. "Your mother is going to kill us if she finds out what we're doing. And we're living with her in her own_ **_realm_ ** _, it's not like we have a place to hide if she discovers we're interfering in her Strengthening."_

_"I'm grateful to Lilith, she's the reason I was born, and then she also saved my life, but I can't let innocent babies be murdered by her followers just so she can be stronger. If she wants to be stronger there has to be another way, one that isn't this disgusting. I'll find it. I have to repay my debt to her, but I can't let it be by looking the other way while I know this is happening." CeeCee took in a deep breath. "I might be a soulless monster, but I'm not_ **_that_ ** _evil."_

_Clary snorted and rolled her eyes. "Soul or not, you're far from evil_ **_or_ ** _a monster. And you lost your soul to protect someone you loved, okay? Stop acting like you're an actual demon. You're just_ **_mainly_ ** _demon."_

_"You say that like there's a difference," CeeCee muttered._

_"There is," Clary informed her with her hands on her hips. "If you were truly a demon you wouldn't care about babies being murdered, you'd be helping Lilith. No matter how much demon you have in you, and despite not having a soul, you're more human than you want to admit. And Lilith_ **_knows_ ** _that. That's why none of the Five are involved in her darker designs, because we're not like her, not completely, and she can't take the chance that our humanity will somehow win out."_

_A wave of relief flowed through her as CeeCee shook her head. "You're such a goody two-shoes, Nephilim, it's sickening."_

_Clary grinned brightly. "And don't forget it!" Her grin faded a little as she sighed. "So? What did Queen Titania want this time? And why did you want to meet in the Fair Market? It's not exactly very discreet."_

_Motioning for Clary to join her on a bench, CeeCee glanced around at the Fair Folk in the marketplace before clearing her throat and returning her attention to Clary. "I was thinking about the Adept's case."_

_Clary rolled her eyes. "What did I tell you about trying to hone in on her case? How would you like it if she was over there trying to work_ **_our_ ** _case?"_

_CeeCee waved off that concern and continued on. "I've narrowed a few suspects on who the Symbolic Opposites might be feeding, but the esoteric means of the sacrifices helped narrow some more. I'm not a hundred per cent sure, but Lucifer is super high on my list."_

_Clary raised an eyebrow. "This is a comedy bit because my family is named after him, isn't it?" At CeeCee's look she made a face. "He's dead or something, isn't he? I mean, we live in Edom with the Prince and Princess of Hell. If Lucifer was actually real your mother would've mentioned him, or Asmodeus would've. He pontificates like_ **_hell_ ** _whenever he's around, I'm sure that's a name he'd throw around." At CeeCee's hesitation, Clary's green eyes narrowed. "What?"_

_"So, I've been told point-blankly that 'ladies never reveal their true age', but apparently Titania knew Lucifer."_

_Clary's eyes widened. "Did she say it point blank like that? Just because Fair Folk can't lie doesn't mean they aren't creative truth tellers."_

_"Pointblank. 'I knew him, he had a marvelous singing voice, and was wickedly handsome'." CeeCee tapped her fingertips against the surface of the bench. "I mean, meeting the Adept and the Superhero made me realize just how many alternate dimensions there actually are. Think about it, the dream one I lived through could very well exist somewhere out there. And if so, how many more are there? And that got me thinking, if there are versions of_ **_us_ ** _in those worlds, are there alternate versions of demons?"_

_Clary's eyes widened. "I hadn't thought about that."_

_"I'm going to tell you something because you're my Gemini, and you're the only one I could get away with telling this to as we're, in many ways, one person now." CeeCee licked her lips and leaned forwards. "There are portals to different realities hidden deep within Titania's personal garden." She hurried on when she saw Clary's huge eyed reaction. "So she knows about other realities, to some degree, so I've been earning her favor to get some information on it, and what she's just told me… it changes_ **_everything_ ** _."_

_Clary glanced around nervously before scuttling closer to CeeCee. "What is it?"_

_"Apparently beings of incredible power might not have a different version of themselves in these different realities – but_ **parts**   _of themselves in the different realities."_

_"I'm confused," Clary replied._

_"I was too," CeeCee admitted. "But apparently Titania has access to all the realities, and she wasn't the only one. According to her, Lucifer was the same. He could stay in one reality, but have avatars of himself in every other one, and knew what was happening in every single one of them. Those could be defeated but he'd never truly be dead because it would be like chopping off tentacles while leaving the actual body intact and able to grow them back again."_

_"I really don't like where this is going," Clary mumbled._

_"So if Lucifer really is the one being Strengthened, it's not only bad for the Adept's reality, but for_ **_every_ ** _reality." CeeCee hesitated. "Although…"_

_"What?" Clary leaned closer._

_"I'm not sure what part of what Titiania said was serious, because she also mentioned that a bit of Lucifer's more Angelic side escaped capture and was now living independently in some version of Los Angeles fighting crime, punishing bad guys, playing piano and sexing everyone around…" CeeCee made a face. "So obviously there has to be either a joke or very weird metaphor in what she's told me." She shook her head. "But I believe the part about Lucifer being able to return to_ **_every_ ** _reality."_

_Clary turned to lean against the back of the bench as she stared ahead of her, suddenly very pale. "We're going to have to stop_ **_two_ ** _Strengthenings, aren't we?"_

_"Yes, and we also need to get this information to the Adept, but I am_ **_not_ ** _strong enough to do another portal. I can barely walk as it is."_

_"If she's some great fountain of information I'm sure she already knows this," Clary muttered, clearly disheartened. "Lucifer."_

_"Well, Clarissa Morgenstern, if all goes to the crapper, you'll get to meet your namesake."_

_Clary flipped her the bird yet still slid to lean her head against CeeCee's shoulder, the shock clearly finally setting in. "_ **_Lucifer_ ** _."_

_"Lucifer."_

Gasping, Chloe stared at her reflection, CeeCee's vision completely gone. The Suppressant wasn't glowing anymore, and neither was the sig— _rune_. Whatever that rune was, it'd helped her see CeeCee when she'd needed it the most, and what she'd learnt terrified her. She ignored the information she'd gleaned in regards to CeeCee herself, there would be time to digest the fact that there was a version of her out there without a soul, and who was apparently part demon and fairy.  _Fairy for crying out loud!_  No. This wasn't the time.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Come in."

Anne peeked her head in. "Tess and I brought some coffee and treats for you guys. We couldn't really sleep so we came in early. We met Jared in the parking lot and he brought all kinds of food, so we're set for the whole day." Her expression fell when she finally got a good look at Chloe. "What is it?"

"I've just found something out," Chloe admitted.

Anne nodded and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her. "Linc told us about Lucifer being the possible entity being Strengthened."

"It's not that." Chloe gripped the sink behind her as she turned to face Anne fully. "I just found out that there are a very few, very powerful beings who don't really have alternate selves in the other realities, but avatars of themselves in it. As in they are in one dimension, but a bit of their consciousness or essence are in every other one via an avatar. Lucifer is one of these beings."

Anne's eyes widened. "You're saying if he gets free he'll be free in  _my_  reality as well?"

"I'm saying he'll be free in  _every_  reality." She paused. "Except, maybe, the one where he plays piano."

"Wait, what?" Anne blinked.

"It's not important." Chloe waved that off. "What  _is_  important is that if we're right, if it's Lucifer, I can't be working at minimal capacity. I have to have full control of what's up here." She tapped her noggin. "I can't accept Dean as my temporary Bonder. I need someone permanent.  _Now_."

* * *

 

"So. Who are they?"

Lincoln didn't even look up from the mess of files now littering his desk. "Potential candidates for Anchor who we'd previously dismissed based on lacking certain characteristics Peter believed Chloe's new Bonder should have."

"If they were already dismissed aren't they not that great?" Dean asked as he sat down and snagged a folder from the desk while flipping through it curiously. He made a face and threw the file into the garbage can. "He boasts about being a chess champion. Who boasts about that?"

"Chess is a game of intellect," Lincoln mumbled as he followed in Dean's example and threw his own folder into the garbage. "That's what helped him get as far in the selection process as he did. He's a disaster in every other way that matters. You were right to dump his folder."

Dean cleared his throat and leaned back in his seat. "Yeah, well, I don't get why the Bonder or Anchor or whatever he's called has to be so very screened. He just needs to be there to hold her hand and tell her 'there there' when she'd having an episode."

A muscle ticked in Lincoln's cheek as he reviewed yet another folder. "There's more to it than 'there there'."

"Yeah? Like what?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

Snapping his folder shut, Lincoln threw it in the bin as well. "He's got to be strong enough to physically be there for her when she's incapacitated, intellectual enough to get a basic idea of what she means when she goes all Dictionary, intuitive enough to get what she might need before she knows it and empathetic enough to realize that she's smarter than any living thing but also very fractured and vulnerable – that she doesn't think or act like a normal person would… and that bothers her." Lincoln began tossing folders into the bin without even looking at them. "It has to be someone who anticipates the fact that she doesn't remember to eat or drink, that she won't sleep unless utterly exhausted because her mind will never shut off, and who gets that while being an Adept is a gift, it's also a curse. It's the reason she'll never be normal, and she'll hate it every once in a while for what it's taken from her."

Dean picked a folder at random and opened it. "That's asking a lot of just one guy."

"Peter could do it," Lincoln countered immediately.

"Yeah, but he left," Dean responded as he waved his folder around. "This guy nursed his uncle through cancer. Seems like a good match in the empathy and mothering category."

"He's also been suspected of animal cruelty, and if you're able to be cruel to animals there's something really twisted inside you and I want him nowhere near someone as emotionally vulnerable as Chloe."

"Okay, in the bin with you." Dean reached for another folder. "What about this guy? He donates money and time to animal shelters and other charitable causes, teaches Folklore at a local university, and was in the army before being honorably discharged due to an injury serving during one of his tours, where he saved the life of one of the people with him."

"He's also incredibly narcissist, Reed called him 'A great case study'. That guy does do a lot of good, but he makes sure the whole world knows about it. The Anchor can't be concerned about himself and making himself more glorified," Lincoln responded. "The Anchor might be important, but he will always take a backseat to the Adept, and that guy? He couldn't take the backseat to  _God_. Also, most of what we do – if not everything – will never be known by society, we'll never get recognition, and he would not be able to handle that."

"We're going through these files  _really_  quickly," Dean noted as he dumped that folder away as well. He flipped through a few and dumped them as well before finally stopping on one. "Why is my father on this list?" He looked very queasy. "Never mind, I don't want to know, I'm just going to veto this. Hard." And with that he tore the file in two and threw it into the bin. He continued to search in silence, mostly chucking the folders, until he found another. "John Scott? Isn't this the dude that just disappeared with our prime suspect in the airplane case?" When Lincoln nodded Dean tossed it into the bin as well. "There are only like ten folders left."

"Nine," Lincoln muttered as he threw one into the very full trash bin. He eyed the names on the folders and began tossing them into the trash can one after the other while listing why they were being rejected. "Happily married. Noted sadist. Suspected arsonist. Dishonorably discharged. Nervous breakdown. Stalked Madonna."

"Stalked  _Madonna_? Gees! How did some of these people make it this far?" Dean wanted to know as he eyed the two folders left on the desk. The bin, on the other hand, was not only full, but overflowing. "Who is left?"

Lincoln eyed the two folders in silence, seeming to mull over the men behind the stamped names. "This one is a very strict Christian who thinks all occult is devil-worship, so he's definitely out of the running."

"So what about the last man standing?" Dean flicked the other file off of the table and onto the floor. "What about him?"

"No." Lincoln shook his head as he picked up the folder and breezed through it. "He wouldn't work either, the Adept and Anchor have to be physically intimate, and it wouldn't be fair to ask that of him given his sexual preferences… which were made known only after we'd added his folder to the pile."

"So… no one, then?" Dean asked curiously as he eyed the now bare table. "There's not one guy alive who could speak Chloe's weird language, or anticipate her needs or be physically strong enough to pick her up or something?"

"Or be empathetic or nurturing or-," Lincoln growled as he ran his hand over his head. "You really need to study up on this. It's easier to understand once more you."

"So you studied up."

"Of course I did."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Well, I would if it'd help me understand her when she gets all technical, but I doubt it will."

"No, it's not a dictionary, but if you really pay attention you'll get the gist of what she's saying," Lincoln pointed out. "You just need to be around her more. She says a lot with her hands, eyes, and body language. You just need to pay attention."

"It's also a little terrifying when she gets into her fits," Dean admitted with a little shiver. "I still don't get how you know what to do. She was completely out of her mind and-."

"Again, all you need to do is pay attention." Lincoln looked very tired as he ran his hand over his face. "She's very physical. Her hands scratch for something to write with, for example. You just need to learn to interpret what her ticks mean."

"Also, how weird is it that she doesn't even remember to feed herself?" Dean wanted to know. "That's a natural human instinct."

"Yes, but her mind overwhelms everything else, overshadowing every other need she might have in its endless quest to know more." Lincoln glanced at the clock. "You just have to have a routine, set up alarms if you have to, and make sure she stays hydrated and fed."

"That's a lot to ask of one guy," Dean repeated his earlier sentiment. "I don't think there's a guy in the whole world who could take up that level of responsibility all alone."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lincoln snapped, frustrated with how sorting through the candidates had ended. "I do most – if not all – of that already and I can handle it just fine."

And then he froze, eyes wide.

Dean's lips twitched but he cleared his throat and stood as well, slapping Lincoln's shoulders. "Yeah, but you're not a candidate, are you?" He made a face. "Why is that?"

And with that he walked out of the room.

Lincoln stared at the door as it closed, and then collapsed back down on his chair.

Well damn.

* * *

 

Normally Jared would balk at this type of job – going through the belongings of the people on the airplane was definitely not a glorious task – but he was grateful for the monotony as it allowed his mind to freak out, while giving his hands something useful to do. He didn't really have to think about what he was doing, it was all wash, rinse repeat, and that's what he needed. So far there was only dirty clothes and souvenirs, and while he categorized and took photos of everything, he was on autopilot, his mind about ready to have a nervous breakdown.

Not only was Lucifer real, but he was super powerful, and could very well be making an appearance soon if they didn't manage to figure out who was behind the Tarot Murders and how to stop them. This was definitely not the type of dangers he'd thought he'd be stopping when he joined the military, but he was also glad that he was a part of this team because the thought of some strangers dealing with this when his life and those of the people he loved being on the line… it was terrible.

Almost as if having sensed his inner turmoil, his phone rang, the Caller ID read SEELEY.

Clearing his throat, Jared forced a smile on his face as he answered. "Hey big bro, what's up? How's Temperance? Still hot as ever?"

Seeley Booth was Jared's older brother, an FBI agent like Linc had been before being recruited, and definitely had good luck with the women so this whole thing with him being unable to snag Dr Brennan was seriously getting weird.

"I am going to ignore your questions," Seeley informed him before clearing his throat. "Reid says he's flying in soon for the team's regular psych evaluation – that this is Project Nomad's first official one. That has got to be an interesting one given how lurid their history is, when I shared some of the more interesting parts of their file he started to stammer."

"Your bromance with him is weird," Jared informed his big brother. "You gossip with each other like a pair of old women."

"How's your drinking?"

Jared breathed in deeply. "Under control. Just like it was the  _last_  time you asked."

"I'm just trying to make sure you don't mess this up, Jared, it's a great opportunity." Seeley let out a huge sigh. "I just worry about you."

"And I've screwed up a lot in the past, I know that, and I'm grateful for all the times you've saved my sexy ass," Jared admitted immediately, knowing this was why he couldn't allow himself to get annoyed with Seeley no matter how many times he brought up that sore subject. "But things are different now. Now, if I make a stupid mistake while drunk I'm not embarrassing or putting in jeopardy our government, I'm endangering  _the world_. It's very sobering."

There was a pause, and then. "I'm very proud of you, you know."

Jared hadn't known how much he'd needed to hear that until that very instance. "Thanks." He cleared his throat and held his phone between his ear and shoulder as he returned to the task at hand. "You wouldn't be if you could see what I was doing right now."

"Let me guess – you're trying to get into some suspect's underwear?" Seeley joked.

Jared held up a lacy black thong, not sure whether he was glad or not he was wearing gloves. "Not exactly. No." He dropped it and continued to rummage through the luggage. "How's the kid?"

"He's fine, has a crush on a girl in school. I've been giving him some advice."

"Poor kid," Jared snickered teasingly. His hand brushed against something hard and he scooped it up, pulling it free from where it'd been hidden under the clothes. He eyed the cylindrical container and opened the lid, using his flashlight to peer within. He froze. "Bro? I've got to call you back later." Screwing the cover back onto the container, Jared dialed a different number, and when it was picked up, he didn't even give Tess a chance to say hello. "You need to get down here, now, bring the Nomads and Anne. And bring the Containment Kit. I've found something."

* * *

 

It was really killing Tony. Where in the world had he seen the suspect before? She could be very dangerous, and with an FBI agent either as an accomplice or hostage… if Tony didn't remember he'd never forgive himself.

"You want some coffee? We're going to get some for ourselves." Ziva passed his and McGee's desks with Abby in tow.

Tony pulled out his wallet to get some money out, when he froze. "Ziva, I love you."

"Huh?" She asked in confusion.

"I remember where I've seen her!" Yanking the piece of paper that had been haphazardly folded in his wallet, Tony picked up his phone's receiver and began punching in Lincoln's direct dial.

* * *

 

Chloe looked up the second the manila folder hit her desk. She'd been deep in thought, looking down at her Suppressant, and hadn't even heard anyone entering her office. "What is this?"

Lincoln stop there, a strange expression on his face. "A candidate for permanent Anchor."

Surprise and anxiety mixed within her as she reached for the folder, yet she didn't open it, not yet. "So this one of the ones previously discarded?"

"Yes, but, uh, not how you might think." Lincoln pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. "Dean and I were talking, and he said something that made me realize we'd disqualified a bunch of guys just because Peter said so… and other reasons. So I went back and looked over the different candidates and, well, most of them were definitely a bust - Peter isn't dumb. But there was  _one_  that I think could work."

Despite her previous conviction to finally find an Anchor, Chloe would be lying if she didn't say she was anxious as she finally flipped over the cover, but what she saw there surprised her. Right in front of her was a picture of… Lincoln… as well as a summary of his life. She looked up at him in time to see him shuffle uncomfortably. "Peter wasn't the one who vetoed you, that was me."

"I know, and I get why you did it, but I'm asking you to rethink your previous decision," Lincoln replied in a very business-like way. "I mightn't be Peter, and we mightn't have the relationship that you two did, but I am confident that I can do a better job as Anchor than any of these other candidates could."

"I can't ask you to give up—-."

"You're not asking me to do anything I'm not already doing," he responded immediately.

And she froze as that sunk in.

He was  _right_.

How had she missed that?

Ever since Peter had left, Lincoln had been slowly filling in his role. It'd been so gradual she hadn't even noticed! Hell, the only thing he hadn't done was…

She flushed red and looked up at him once more.

He was beet red as well and not meeting her gaze. "I can do this. I already do this."

Chloe's green gaze lowered to the folder, to his picture, and then back at him. "Okay."

"I need you to give me a fair chance to—-wait—-you said okay." Lincoln's eyes were wide behind his glasses.

Chloe gripped the folder tightly as she nodded. "I did."

Lincoln just  _stared_  at her and then grinned before clearing his throat and nodding. "We'll, of course, go through the normal process, Compatibility Tests, etc. This will be by the book." He suddenly frowned, very serious, as he met her gaze. "I'm not Peter, and I'll never be as perfect at this as he was, but I'm here, and I won't leave."

Her throat tightened, not allowing her to say anything. So instead of answering she merely smiled and nodded once more.

He looked away and smiled slightly before nodding as well. "Good."

An awkward silence fell between them, but was interrupted by Lincoln's and Chloe's phones ringing at the same time.

Lincoln shook his head an answered his cell. "What is it, Tony?"

Chloe took the opportunity to answer her own call. "Hey Anne."

"You and Lincoln need to get down here, Jared's found something in the luggage," Anne responded before hanging up.

Chloe put the receiver down and turned to Lincoln, who had just ended his call with Tony.

"He knows who our suspect is, or at least another alias," Lincoln surprised her by announcing. "He's emailing Anne the details as we speak."

"Good, because we're going to see her right now," Chloe declared as she stood. "She says Jared found something in the luggage that we need to see."

Jared motioned to the door. "You ready, boss?"

She stared at him and let out an incredulous little breath. "I just might be."

"Huh?" He asked curiously.

That damned blush returned, but she ignored it. "Lead the way."

Despite his curious look, Lincoln smiled and did just that.


	9. Chapter 9

Peter stared up at his ceiling as he went over his meeting, as he'd been doing for far too long now. Every single time he'd decided to get up from the motel bed and do something productive, everything he'd learnt, and all the questions they'd brought up, kept him right there.

Then again, no one could mess him up as well as his father.

_Despite not having seen him in years, and the man having grown an impressive bead and asylum-worthy hair, Walter Bishop was still more than recognizable as he sat there in his straight jacket. Despite his circumstances his eyes were twinkling with happiness as he watched Peter slowly join him at the table in the visitor's room._

_"Son." Walter beamed as he sat up straighter in his seat. "I knew you would come one day."_

_Peter wanted to run, wanted to scream, wanted to deck him, and a very deeply hidden part of him was a son who wanted to hug his father, but he'd stopped paying attention to that part of him many years ago. That was why he merely eyed his father as he sat down. "Hello Walter."_

_"Look at you," Walter whispered, mostly to himself as he visibly inspected him. "You have grown so handsome. But skinny." He leaned a little closer over the table and whispered in a conspirator's way: "I've gained some weight. Can you tell?"_

_No, he couldn't, not with the straight jacket and everything. "I don't know why I'm here." Peter ran a hand down his face and shifted uncomfortably in the seat. "I promised myself I wouldn't ever come."_

_Walter tilted his head and eyed Peter like a curious puppy. "What's bothering you?"_

_Licking his lips, Peter groaned as he leaned forwards, resting his forearms on the table's edge. "I'd thought you couldn't screw me over now that you were in here, but you still managed to do so."_

_Hurt crept across Walter's face as he pulled back immediately and lowered his gaze. "I—I am sorry, son. I would never want-."_

_"Do you understand what I've gone through because of you and everything you've done?" Peter couldn't stop the anger and frustration from spilling from his lips. "And now, because of your history of mental illness, I—because of you I have this in my genetic history and-."_

_Walter still looked very hurt, but confusion also featured heavily on his face. "Genetic history?"_

_"You're insane, of course you don't get what I'm saying." He leaned back hard against the cold seat. "The fact that I have even a remote chance of ending up like you-."_

_"But, you do not." Walter frowned, his confusion overpowering his hurt. "Son, you could never have this happen to you." When Peter merely ignored him, Walter cleared his throat. "I cannot explain it now, here." He leaned closer over the table, finally catching Peter's eye. "Eyes and ears everywhere."_

**_He's insane, nothing he says can be trusted_ ** _._

_Peter cracked his knuckles while mentally berating himself for coming here, for opening this wound, for no reason. He was about to get up and leave when:_

_"You know the Adept?"_

_Eyes widened, Peter realized Walter was staring at his ring finger, at the fading design there._

_"It is real?" Walter looked up at Peter in utter awe. "You're bonded to her? Or him?" His eyes widened as he leaned back and started whispering to himself. "Makes sense. It's faded. Anger. Doesn't know. Adept real. Belly was wrong. I knew it was real!"_

_"You know about the Adept?" Peter couldn't stop himself from whispering as he stared at his father in a different light._

_"Yes." Walter Bishop nodded, looking saner than he ever had. "And if you get me out of here, I will tell you everything I know. I promise, son. Just, please, get me out."_

Not only was Peter his only living relative, but he was also the only one allowed to visit his father, or remove him from the asylum. He'd known this, and had purposely never visited, and yet here he was, with paperwork he had yet to fill out – yet had requested and taken from the facility nonetheless.

Should he do this?

Could it possibly be real?

Did his father truly know about the Adept?

And what did he know? What  _could_  he know? He'd been a scientist – and a morally lacking one at that – he shouldn't know anything about the occult. And yet he'd known about Peter's connection to the Adept by just a passing glance at his fading bond!

If there was even a chance his father was telling the truth, and he knew information, that could be useful. Peter mightn't be able to be Chloe's Bonder anymore, but he could still help her.

It just meant he'd have to not only face the man who'd made his life a living hell, but become legally in charge of him.

Peter continued staring up at the ceiling, battling with himself as a zing of pain twitched his finger. He raised his hand and watched as the bond faded drastically.

Nausea and worry twisted in his stomach but he couldn't get in contact, not until he had something good, something helpful.

He closed his eyes and let out a tremulous breath as realization hit him straight to gut.

He couldn't get in contact with Chloe until he had his father free and detoxed from his medication enough to be able to share everything he knew about the Adept.

* * *

"At first I just thought Williams, Susan was the only one… but we kept checking and there are more artifacts littered throughout different luggage." Jared had the photos of the people involved, as well as their names, above the sections with the items which had been retrieved from their checked-in luggage. "Yates, Gary – Jurgens, Virgil – Cardenas, Daniel – Richmond, Sophie – Tatum, Caroline – Evans, Martha – Koth, Heather – Takama, Yuki – Porto, Thiago – di Conti, Thierry – Quincy, Kimberly … and they are only the ones we found multiple artifacts. Most of these passengers had  _one_  stowed away in their personal belongings."

"We can't find any connection between them," Tess muttered from where she was typing rapidly into the keyboard of her laptop. "I've been searching all the databases, and I've got their lives mapped out, and it's hard to believe any of these people's paths crossed other than at the airport."

"They're all normal civilians except for Gary Yates – our dead toilet room guy – who was a part of a private security service," Anne announced from where she sat next to Tess, typing into her own laptop. "He was apparently on duty protecting Thierry di Conti, who is some hotshot philanthropist coming back from one of the many charitable functions he holds to help causes around the world."

"It's a good thing all these people are in quarantine," Lincoln muttered as he eyed the artifacts secured within translucent containment bags. "We're going to have to question them in depth."

"What about the contents of Gustav's luggage?" Chloe was fighting against her own brain, which was despite to start categorizing and analyzing each and every piece they'd' recovered. There were procedures that needed to be upheld, once these belongings were safe in Special Holdings she'd be able to examine them to her mind's content. Until then, she battled it to keep in control.

"Spic and span," Jared declared with utter annoyance as he motioned to something off to the side that might've once been a piece of luggage. "I took his suitcase apart, and there was nothing there."

Something about it bugged her but she couldn't figure out what.

"Is it possible he managed to smuggle all of his belongings into everyone else's luggage?" Lincoln asked curiously before muttering. "But the logistics of getting them back upon landing would be a nightmare unless he knew these people and was working with them."

"Again, that's highly unlikely, there is  _nothing_  that could link these people," Tess interjected, gaze on her screen. "They lived vastly different lives and so far I can't pinpoint any possible nexus. I'll continue to look for one, but it is highly improbable."

As Chloe's gaze continued to scan the disassembled luggage when suddenly something pinged in the back of her head. "Are the bodies in the morgue yet?"

"Yep." Anne gave a thumbs up. "Ducky's made sure to let everyone know to stay away from our drawers due to possible 'contamination'."

"We really need our own morgue," Tess muttered under her breath.

Chloe turned to Lincoln and opened her mouth to ask him to take over while she checked something out.

He nodded before she could even start. "I got everything here, go do your thing but let me know if you need anything."

A smile spread across her lips and she nodded and turned to leave, took two steps, and then frowned as she turned to him once more. "Was she named while I was fighting the calculations?"

"Who?" Jared asked curiously.

Lincoln's eyes widened as he shook his head in response to Chloe's question, and turned to Anne. "Tony said he gave you some information on our prime suspect."

"Right! With everything going on I forgot!" Anne flushed in embarrassment. "It turns out Serinda Dove is an alias of Calista Jane, also known as Top Hat." She turned her laptop to reveal the prime suspect in a revealing outfit, top hat and all. "She's apparently an up and coming magician who works at the December Lounge, which is known for its 'wholesome yet naughty' entertainment."

Lincoln narrowed his eyes. "Can you handle these searches without Tess?" When Anne nodded he turned to Jared and Tess. "You two, go check out the December Lounge, find out what you can, but go prepared. She's already proven herself more than resourceful."

"I get paid to handcuff beautiful women," Jared sighed happily as he left to get ready.

"That _is_ the dream," Tess snickered, pressed a peck to Anne's laughing lips, and then mock saluted Lincoln as she left.

Chloe was already at the door, and without so much as a goodbye, she escaped and hurried down towards the morgue.

* * *

"I did not expect to see you back again," Vance announced as he stared across his desk at Agent Philip Broyles.

"Yes, I doubt you did," Agent Broyles agreed quite calmly. "After all, that was quite the scathing review you delivered."

"Do you still have a job?" Vance asked curiously.

"I have been reprimanded for not having a tighter grip on my agent, but yes, especially now that he is either a hostage or an accomplice I have been brought in to help assist in this investigation," he replied coolly. "I am the best person to help understand his frame of mind and think how he thinks. If he's been taken hostage I know what to anticipate in regards to what he will try to do to get help. I know what signs to look for."

"And if he's gone rogue?" Vance wanted to know.

Agent Broyles' face hardened. "Then I will make sure he spends the rest of his life somewhere very uncomfortable."

A slow smirk tilted the corner of his lip as Vance eyed the man across from him. "Let us hope that  _this_  introduction fares better than your  _last_  one." And with that he stood. "And if it doesn't, I want to be there for entertainment's sake alone."

* * *

Palmer worked in the morgue. With dead bodies. Dead bodies that he many times helped Ducky dissect for medical examinations. And yet, despite all of that, he really wanted to puke.

Agent Chloe Gibbs made him nervous when she  _wasn't_  covered in blood, and when she was, and being so unnaturally calm about it, he was just really glad she was on their side and not a serial killer, because only serial killers could have this sort of calm while covered in someone else' blood.

She had on gloves and an apron, and other than the band around her forehead which had a modified light and camera combo, she had no other working or protective gear. Not that the gloves or apron were really doing much good. They were red, covered in blood, but so were her arms and shirt and parts of her pants as well. Her face – it was splattered and smeared with blood from where she'd wiped at herself with the back of her gloves not even realizing she was making things worse.

The Fringe Division really needed their own morgue.

Shivering, Palmer slipped back out of the place, glad she'd been so deep in whatever she was doing, she hadn't even noticed his arrival.

* * *

"How did I not know about this place?" Jared wanted to know as he stared at the pamphlet advertising the December Lounge's shows.

Tess would've rolled her eyes if she wasn't busy scanning the place. It was usually opened in the evenings, but the cleaning woman had opened for them when she'd seen their badges and was going to get the owner, who was 'in the back'.

A man just as sleazy as Tess had expected emerged from the back with the cleaning woman, who returned to the cleaning. He had a very bad comb-over, a porn mustache, and a nose which had been broken more than once. "How can I help you guys? Shows don't start till after the sun goes down."

"We're here in regards to one of your acts," Tess announced as she snatched the pamphlet from Jared and turned it over so a picture of Top Hat was visible. "When was the last time you saw this girl?"

"Calista?" The owner raised am eyebrow as he adjusted his pants. "That bitch just went and quit on me three days ago. Didn't give me any warning. I gave her a chance when no one else would touch her." He smirked. "You say she's in trouble?  _Good_. Serves her right."

Jared's eyebrow rose. "Do you happen to know where she lives?"

"I wanted to, if you know what I mean." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively before his expression turned sour. "She was damned prude, and private. Plus, we pay in cash here."

"I'm sure." Tess pulled out her phone and showed him a picture of Agent Scott. "What about him? Do you know him?"

The owner eyed the phone before pursing his lips. "Looks familiar. I can't say but he was probably a patron. She had a lot of men who came all the time just to see her." He hiked up his pants once more. "Other than letting you see her prep room I can't really help you guys."

"That would actually be a lot of help," Jared assured him.

"Good. Come, it's this way," and with that, he led the way.

Giving the place another long look, Tess sighed and followed after.

* * *

No one had been in the Fringe Division offices, and when Director Vance had called and found out that Agent Gibbs was in the morgue, Philip had been conflicted. On one hand, this was the leader of the group who was the one most fussed about in the Pentagon, but on the other hand she seemed by far the less useful or interesting in her group. The weak link. But he supposed if he was to have a productive relationship with Fringe it was probably best to smoothen things with her. He  _had_  brought in not only a hexed agent, but one who might very well be a double agent.

That still irked him, greatly.

He stepped into the morgue and nearly walked into Director Vance's back when the man stopped unexpectedly in front of him. Philip raised an eyebrow and followed Vance's gaze, his own widening in surprise to find Special Agent Gibbs absolutely covered in blood. Not only that, but the subject she was examining had very much been dissected. Parts of him were not only littering the trays around her, but she'd begun the process of  _skinning_  the victim.

It was hard to keep his composure, but Philip gripped his hands behind his back, straightened said back, and decided to see how Director Vance would react to what was happening in front of him, and take his cues from him.

Regaining his own composure, Director Vance cleared his throat. "Special Agent Gibbs." When she didn't react, he cleared his throat once more and spoke louder. " _Chloe_."

She looked up at them and smiled, proving that not only were her clothes dripping in blood, but so was her face. "Hi Director, Agent Broyles." And with that she went back to what she was doing.

Director Vance let out a deep breath before moving closer to the absolute mess. "Agent Broyles has been assigned to assist Fringe in recovering Agent Scott."

Philip blinked in surprise. Wasn't Vance going to address the whole skinning thing going on?

"Makes sense, he knows his agent better than anyone else, and they've probably already agreed to some sort of procedure in case of something like this happening," Chloe mumbled under her breath, very visibly only giving them a very small percentage of her attention. "Lincoln or Anne can give Agent Broyles the tour he missed after his agent got us all put in lockdown."

Philip couldn't tell whether she was snubbing him or merely not wording things properly.

"We can't find Agent Lee," Director Vance admitted, apparently not about to even mention what was going on in front of them. "Nor any of the other agents for that matter."

"Jared and Tess are out chasing a lead," Chloe responded immediately as she brushed at her cheek, only managing to cover her face and hair with more blood. "The last time I saw Anne she was running some searches while Lincoln was going to lock some evidence in Special Holdings. She could be helping him."

"Ah." Director Vance nodded and shifted his weight on his feet as he eyed the bloodied mess in front of him. "We should probably wait for them to return to the Think Box."

"Tess, Anne and Jared brought a lot of things to munch on if you're hungry," Chloe declared absentmindedly as she continued to slowly peel off the man's skin.

"Good to know." Director Vance turned to leave.

Philip, completely disbelieving what was happening in front of him, cleared his throat. "Is this Serinda Dove's contact?"

"Yes he is, say hello, Gustav." She motioned to where his head was propped up on one of the trays next to the bone saw she'd no doubt used to decapitate him.

"So I'm assuming this will be a closed casket event," Philip muttered under his breath. "What exactly do you plan on telling his next of kin when they come to retrieve the body?"

"No one's coming for him," Chloe snorted at the thought, as if it'd been the most ridiculous question ever.

"You cannot be sure of that," Philip informed her curtly. "His name is on the airplane's manifesto, and there have got to be more people than just Miss Dove who knew he would be on it. People will come looking for him, will demand answers from us."

"I highly doubt that," Chloe muttered on her breath.

Great. Not only was she a liability with her odd sickness, but she was dim on top of everything. Just what purpose did this 'Adept' really serve except to make everything more difficult on the rest of the team?

The doors opened and in walked the man who should truly be the leader of the Fringe Division: Agent Lincoln Lee. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the state of the so-called Adept yet like Director Vance, didn't exactly comment on it once he arrived at them. "Agent Broyles, you're still here."

Ah, yes. That once was definitely not a miswording. Unlike Agent Gibbs, Agent Lee was distrustful of him. That was what should happen given his agent was the one who was possibly rogue. Instead of this, Agent Gibbs was being incredibly naïve and trusting – two things no agent should ever be. How was she truly the one in charge of this time? Who had believed that that arrangement was ideal? Anyone could see the command should be in Agent Lee's hands instead.

Director Vance nodded. "He's been assigned to help us retrieve his missing agent."

Agent Lee eyed Philip before smiling in a way that didn't reach his eyes as he held out his hand. "We appreciate your help."

"Of course." Philip shook his hand. This guy understood the politics going on here, unlike his 'superior', who had apparently forgotten all about them and was  _humming to herself_  while peeling the skin off of a body she had basically dissembled.

Pulling his hand free, Agent Lee turned to Agent Gibbs and eyed the mess of body parts around her. He glanced over at Philip for a moment, a calculating and wary look on his countenance, before he cleared his throat and moved gingerly around some puddles of blood on the floor to stand next to her. "Anne found a couple of old addresses under Dove's real name, I've dispatched the Nomads to check them out."

Philip blinked once more in shock at Agent Lee for completely ignoring the desecration happening before him. Was Philip the  _only one_  who wanted to acknowledge what was happening here?

Chloe – Philip couldn't think of her as 'Agent Gibbs', not when she looked like someone who belonged on a show like  _Dexter_ – glanced up at Agent Lee. "They're not going to find anything, but it's being thorough." She returned her attention to the body. "He's beautiful."

Agent Lee pursed his lips as he tilted his head and eyed the body quizzically. "How so?"

"I mean, just  _look_  at him." Chloe tilted her head as well as she stared admiringly at the cadaver. "I haven't seen anything like it before."

Director Vance very subtly tilted his head in a visible effort to try and figure out what she was going on about.

Philip refused to tilt his head. He wouldn't do it. "I'm sure whoever comes for his body won't agree."

Chloe made a face and eyed him in confusion. "No one is coming for him. I told you that already."

"And I told you that you couldn't know that," he responded in his no-nonsense way, about to snap at her, leader of Fringe or not.

" _Why_  would someone come for him?" Chloe wanted to know, her own annoyance clear in her tone as she pointed towards the body. "I mean  _look_  at him!"

"That is my point," Philip growl. " _Look_  at him."

"You clearly are not," she growled right back. "If you  _were_  then it would be  _obvious_  that no one would dare come for him."

He opened his mouth to counter that, but it was the 'dare' that stopped him. Philip narrowed his eyes, navigated around the blood and bits to stand next to Agent Lee, and  _looked_  at the body. He tilted his damn head and everything. And yet all he saw was some poor, mutilated bastard.

" _See_?" Chloe pointed, as if everything should now be crystal clear.

"It isn't obvious to us," Agent Lee explained to her in a soft, careful tone. "We're not seeing whatever you're seeing."

Chloe's eyes widened as she turned to him. "You can't see it?"

"See what?" Director Vance asked finally.

"But it's so  _obvious_ ," Chloe whispered, apparently to herself, because she jumped in surprise when Philip asked:

"What is obvious?"

Chloe blinked, looked around, clearly confused. "Maybe… Just… just hold on. This might help. I hope." She eased herself around them, walked to the door, and then turned off the lights, leaving them in utter darkness for a good five minutes before suddenly black lights turned on all around the morgue, revealing sigils and symbols painted on the walls and doors that Philip hadn't been able to seen in normal lighting.

But that wasn't what shocked him. No. It was the symbols glowing on the victim. No. Not  _on_  the victim.  _In_  the victim. Under his  _skin_.

"Can you see them now?" Chloe's voice was hopeful from her place by the light switches. "If not we can try something else. Sometimes heat will-."

"We see them," Agent Lee assured her in an awed tone.

"Great!" Even in this lighting it was easy to see her beaming smile as she navigated her way back to them and stared at the glowing cadaver pieces all around her.

In this lighting Philip could now understand the reason she'd disassembled the body. "Are those-?"

"Sutures," she confirmed. "The craftsmanship is  _spectacular_. It wasn't until I got a good look at his checked-in luggage that I realized it was made out of human skin, and crafted with an incredible-."

"Human skin?" Agent Lee asked, voice uneasy. "Don't tell Jared that, he took it apart with his own hands."

"Right." Chloe nodded. "Well, this kind of detail and precision is  _spectacular_. There's no way anyone is going to own up to knowing about this, much less claim it."

"How were you able to see this without the blacklight?" Philip asked in utter shock, still unable to believe the intricate details he'd been utterly blind to.

"Patterns infuriate my mind, once it catches a glimpse of one it doesn't rest until it's been rearranged or solved or calculated or cataloged or…well…there are many other 'ors'," Chloe admitted with a shrug. "I've also been running several symbol-based searches lately and I think it's left my mind hyper-aware of them, so when I saw the symbols on the inside of his luggage and then came here to check the body… it was like seeing thick ink from the back of a piece of paper. You can tell it's there but can't really read it until you, you know, turn the piece of paper over."

 _'Patterns infuriate my mind_ '.

Philip eyed the girl, beginning to wonder if maybe the Pentagon hadn't been insane for believing she could be useful while investigating  _The Pattern_.

Maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't have dismissed her as quickly as he previously had.

"Can you read it?" Director Vance asked.

"Parts, but not much," she admitted, "but I'm running a decryption and translation software right now to see how much of the other part I can make readable. It's going to take a while though, I need to really have every bit of it scanned in before it can truly begin working."

"Shouldn't an assistant be helping with the scanning?" Philip wanted to know, surprised Agent Lee hadn't thought of this already. "that way your time could be spent in more important pursuits."

"No one else can scan for me," Chloe informed him as she tapped her noggin. "I'm the only one with access to this."

Was she implying that the software for decryption and translation, as well her her 'searches' were being done in her  _mind_? Surely that couldn't be true? That was impossible! For it to be possible her mind would have to be more than just superiorly advanced.

"What exactly is he?" Agent Lee wanted to know, not at all shocked at what Chloe was saying about her mind. "A… frankenstein?"

"Frankenstein was the creator, not the creation," Chloe corrected immediately as she returned her attention to the corpse. "And no. I've never seen anything quite like this, but if I had to  _guess_  - which we all know I  _do not like doing_ \- I'd say it's something of a golem variant with hints of our Haunting in Connecticut prison killings."

"Ah yes, that was before your time, Agent Lee," Director Vance announced, clearly knowing what she was talking about.

"I read the case files," Agent Lee assured him before returning his attention to Chloe. "Golem, that's clay, isn't it? Gustav's flesh and bones. He's also human enough to feel fear strong enough to use the device we confiscated."

"That's why…  _variant_." Chloe made a face and turned to him, visibly stressed. "I really don't like guessing."

He chuckled and nodded. "How about we leave you alone to actual do some deduction and not guesswork?"

She smiled in utter relief. " _Please_."

Agent Lee grinned and nodded. "Come on gentlemen, let's go to the Think Box."

Director Vance followed after him.

Philip glanced back at Chloe, who'd returned to peeling Gustav's skin off of his body despite the fact that only blacklights and glowing symbols were lighting her procedure. He frowned. The Pentagon had been very vague as to why Chloe was useful, and he'd very much thought their assertions overinflated, but there might just be something there. She might very well be useful, especially to him and his investigations of The Pattern.

But she was still not leader material. Far from it. She needed someone to guide her, to tell her what to do and where to concentrate her clearly erratic attention. She needed direction. Leadership. Discipline.

"Agent Broyles." The voice was firm as the lights flickered back on.

Raising an eyebrow, Broyles glanced over to where Agent Lee was waiting on him by the door, expression completely closed off.

A man of extreme self control, Broyles easily kept his smirk from forming as he nodded and headed towards the door, leaving Chloe alone.

For now.


	10. Chapter 10

_C'mon_.  _C'mon. Work!_

Chloe stared at the blood tattoo on her inner wrist, waiting for something, anything, and yet no vision occurred. She glanced up at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and tried to think of CeeCee, of the other reality, and yet unlike before, nothing was triggering a glimpse into the other dimension. How exactly did this work? She hadn't been trying to take a peek before and yet it'd happened, so obviously this was something she was capable of, she just needed to figure out a way to access the link CeeCee had unknowingly forged between them.

 _If I can see through her eyes she might be able to see through mine_.

She had a very long and detailed note pre-written just in case that were true, but she'd never know if she couldn't at least learn to master looking through CeeCee's eyes. Things didn't happen at random. CeeCee's rune had brought her  _here_ , to the reality where another version of her was running a similar case, one which actually intersected with her own. If they were going to help each other they needed to find a way of communicating which didn't leave CeeCee as visibly drained as the portal-making did. They were  _going_  to do that. They were meant to. Chloe could just  _feel it_  in her bones.

And maybe, just maybe, if she figured out how this whole blood tattoo worked, she and Anne would be able to keep in contact once Anne went back to her own world.

But that wasn't the priority right now. What  _was_  a priority was figuring this ability out. CeeCee clearly had had no idea what the rune she'd drawn meant, or what it was capable of, she didn't know Chloe was getting glimpses into her world. Chloe needed to change that. Needed to make this two-way. They'd been brought together to help each other, but to do that they needed control over this.

_Work! Damn it! WORK!_

Nothing.

She slammed her hands down on the sink angrily.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Come in." She glanced up at the mirror in time to see the door open, and Lincoln peer in, his face dark in concern. "Hey."

"Is it your hands?" He asked as he gripped the doorframe tightly.

"What?" And then she realized he must've heard the bang and been worried she'd hurt herself. "I slammed them against the sink in frustration."

Surprise flittered over his face. "Any reason in particular or is it a little of everything?"

Sighing, Chloe turned to lean back against the sink and motioned him to come in and close the door behind him. When he did so she finally showed him the rune she'd been keeping secret from everyone. "CeeCee put this on me, and because of it, I'm able to see glimpses into her reality. It's like, I can see through her eyes, it's how I found out that information about Lucifer and all the realities."

"Okay." Lincoln eyed the design carefully. "What does this have to do with your frustration?"

"I can't activate it when I want to," she admitted with a groan. "I want to see more, and we might be able to, you know, converse, in our own way." She held up the pre-written note as evidence. "But nothing. Nada. Zip." She clutched at the Suppressant with her free hand.

"Maybe it's something you'll just have to practice over and over until you get it right," Lincoln muttered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Or maybe it's like the rest of your mojo - locked up for now. Either way, there's no use in letting yourself get—."

Chloe's eyes widened. "You're right."

"You've been saying that more and more often," he informed her with a chuckle. "I'm not complaining at all, I'm just noting that I definitely have my moments, so that whole suspension you keep talking about—."

Taking in a deep breath, Chloe licked her eyes as she braced herself against the sink. "Kiss me."

Lincoln's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline. "Excuse me?"

"We're, you're going to, Compatibility Test guidelines dictate—," Chloe fumbled in embarrassment yet trudged on. "Kiss me." She cleared her throat. "Please."

He stared at her in silence before nodding. "Okay."

And yet he did nothing.

Chloe waited, and waited, before she frowned. "Are you going to kiss me?"

"Yep," was all he responded, all while not actually making any sort of move. Maybe he was waiting for her to close her eyes or something? People closed their eyes when they kissed. It had to be that.

Green eyes closed while Chloe braced herself for impact, for nausea and fear, for Lionel Luthor's face and scent to assail her, yet it never arrived. She peeked open her eyes and blinked in confusion to realize Lincoln still hadn't moved an inch. "You're not kissing me."

"Perceptive," he murmured.

Annoyance began to overcome her nerves. "You're supposed to kiss me."

"I will."

"Any time this century?"

"Most definitely."

A growl escaped her lips as she gripped the sink behind her harder, this time in mountain annoyance. "You're still not kissing me." When all he did was nod his agreement to that fact, Chloe pushed away from the sink towards him in frustration. She stopped halfway towards him, her bravado from mere seconds before completely gone, but she couldn't back down. No. She couldn't. Hell, if he moved towards her she'd probably bolt, or collapse to her knees, or backpedal. Damn it!

 _Don't move_ , she begged him telepathically as she eased her way closer and closer to him - not that this bathroom was large enough to make this trek very long. Chloe gulped as she stared around him, at his clothes, everywhere but his face. This wouldn't work if she looked at his face. She'd chicken out. Hell, the Suppressant was probably the only thing keeping her from running - that and the fact that he had yet to move.

Inhaling in deeply, Chloe reached out, hesitated, and then placed her hand on his. At the contact she jumped and pulled her hand away before growling at herself and purposely returning her hand on top of his. He didn't try to hold her hand, merely let her place hers over his. She nodded and took in a deep breath as she took that hand and placed it at her waist, and then brought his other one in as well. Lincoln's grip remained once she let his hands drop, but it was incredibly light, she could escape any second she wanted, and quite easily.

Somehow that emboldened her as she finally glanced up at his face. He was staring down at her.

"Y-you can kiss me now," she informed him.

"Okay." And yet… Nothing.

"Do you make  _every_  girl work for it?" Chloe wanted to know ruefully as she reached up and grabbed the lapels of his jacket to anchor herself. She stared up at him, gulped, and then pushed up on her tiptoes. Her hands slowly slid their way up his chest to rest around his neck, drawing him in close, his face right by hers. His eyes stared into hers for a second before closing.

It was then that Chloe suddenly realized what was going on.

He'd seen the way she'd reacted to Dean's kiss, he mightn't know the reason to her aversion to being touched intimately, but he definitely had figured out she had one. It was why he wasn't initiating anything. He hadn't come towards her, hadn't pulled her in tightly, wasn't holding her still, and wasn't making any sudden moves. Hell, he'd even closed his eyes to help her nerves!

He was treating her like a feral cat!

She should really feel insulted at the comparison, and yet…

 _'I pay attention'_  he'd said.

He really did.

Gulping once more, Chloe pressed a little higher on her tiptoes as she closed her eyes and tightened her grip on him seconds before their lips touched.

Electricity raced down her spine as she gasped into his mouth in instinctive reaction. Her fingertips dug into him as she slowly, carefully, kissed him, and just as slowly and carefully, he kissed her back. It didn't feel the same as when she'd kissed Peter, but it was a hundred times better than when she'd kissed Dean. Lincoln rubbed her back softly, in a circular motion which mimicked the way he did whenever she was close to having a nervous breakdown. Even now he was trying to comfort her, and, even odder, it was working. It was hard to let thoughts of Lionel assail her when experiencing the tender touch.

The kiss slowly became less slow and careful, although it was a very gradual shift. Electric pleasure spiked at her fingertips and the tips of her toes, her body conducting that energy up and down. She was breathless, hot, confused as she found herself leaning harder against Lincoln and wishing he'd touch her a little more firmly.

That last realization had her blushing in embarrassment as she pushed away.

Lincoln's eyes widened and his hands went up in submission immediately. "Sorry, I didn't mean to—."

"No, don't apologize," she whispered while shaking her head, hands still on his chest, the red of her face and chest brilliantly hot against her skin. "Tonight."

"Tonight?" Lincoln's face was the picture of confusion, his hands still up.

"We're compatible," she forced out despite her embarrassment. "Why wait?"

His eyes widened and a slow blush began to form. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

Was he going to make her take the lead on this whole damned thing?

She paused.

Yes. He was.

He was painstakingly giving her the upper hand in all of this. Why would—?

He didn't—did he  _know_?

She'd never told him, and she doubted her father had, so how would he have figured it out?

 _'I pay attention._ '

She gulped and stared up at Lincoln as if not having seen him before. "Is tonight okay with you?"

"If it's okay with you," was his immediate response.

"It is," she assured them both just as a knock sounded on the door. "Come in!"

The door opened to reveal Tess, who did not seem phased to see them in the bathroom together. "Jared has something he needs you both to see."

"Okay, we'll be there in a moment," Chloe responded.

Tess nodded and closed the door.

"No reaction," Lincoln muttered as he finally lowered his hands. "Not even a slight widening of the eyes."

"I know right?" Chloe scoffed as she straightened her clothes.

"We  _at least_  deserve a raised eyebrow," Lincoln announced as he fixed his lapels.

"Or a little  _huh_ ," Chloe added as she opened the door.

"A  _huh_  is the  _minimum_  we should've gotten!" Lincoln agreed as he followed her out. "My hands were up in the air!"

"And I was basically assaulting you."

"With my permission."

"She didn't know that!" Chloe reminded him in a low, scandalized voice.

"True," Lincoln muttered as they walked side by side towards the Think Box. "What kind of weird stuff do she and Anne get into if she didn't even blink?"

Chloe shivered. "I don't want to know. I  _really_  don't want to know."

Despite her muttering, Chloe was grateful for Tess' arrival and non-reaction as they allowed her and Lincoln to focus on something other than what was happening and going to happening tonight. It'd helped a very awkward situation be less awkward as they deflected onto Tess.

They arrived in the Think Box to find everyone already there, even Agent Broyles was seated and clearly awaited debriefing. There was something about this man who was always clearly in charge even when he technically shouldn't be, he had leadership written all over him, and Chloe couldn't help but feel very lacking in that department. Even though she was technically the leader of the Fringe Division, Chloe knew she depended  _a lot_  on Lincoln to do the actual leading. She was erratic and flighty, whereas he was constant and fixed. Not only did he actual have training and knew what a normal investigative team would do and such, but he excelled at this part of the job, whereas Chloe was usually too caught up in her calculations to remember there were people around her most of the time, and that they didn't hear the contents of her very over-filled mind.

Agent Broyles would probably realize all of that soon if not already, and what if he went back to the Pentagon and told them what a mess she actually was? People depended on her, their jobs depended on her keeping it together, so what if she lost it for them?

"Good, you're here." Jared turned to them, tablet in his hand as he flicked whatever was on its screen onto the screens in the room, revealing the faces of the passengers. "I've been going over the data Tess and Anne got on the passengers, and they're right, there's not one thing that links any of them. Not the slightest bit. Usually at least one or two people have  _something_  in common, even if only something very vague, but not a single one of these people did, and that got me thinking: What if that was the link?"

Anne leaned forwards from where she sat next to Tess. "You're going to have to explain better than that."

"I thought – if I wanted to get to every single person who would be boarding that flight how do I do it? What's my strategy? And then it came to me." Jared then threw up a picture up on the screen. "Check-in. That's the  _only_  place where each and every one of our passengers visited. So I went through footage, and... look for yourself." He played the silent footage, showing the check-in agents readying the boarding passes, and right before they handed them over (while taking in the checked – in luggage) they did a little something.

"What was with that movement?" Tess wanted to know as she leaned forward as well, watching as the check-in agent shifted her wrist in a certain way while holding the boarding pass, causing the passenger to stare down at it for a second before shaking his head, smiling oddly, and taking the boarding pass from her.

"They keep repeating that action every single time they're about to hand over the boarding passes," Anne noted. "Is that an activation of some sort?"

"We need to get a look at those boarding passes," Dean muttered from his seat. "They could be hexed."

"We also need to figure out more about those check-in agents," Sam declared from his side.

By this point, Agent Broyles was the only one who had yet to speak. He merely sat there, eyeing everyone in that studying was of his.

"I've already asked about the check-in agents," Jared informed them gravely. "They've both gone missing. They must've realized the jig was up when the incident happened with the airplane."

"We have copies of the boarding passes in Evidence, don't we?" Anne asked curiously. "Tess and I could-."

Chloe couldn't look away from the security footage. Something about it was bugging her, but what? What was off? "Can you start that from the beginning and play it on fast-forward until it ends?"

"Uh, sure." Jared nodded and did as asked.

Shifting to better face the screens, Chloe concentrated on them, recording the rapidly racing images until the footage ended. Now that it was all there she looped it back, slowly, and tried to enhance as best she could, but the footage itself wasn't that great, and in enhancing it some things got blurry, but it was there.

 _There were symbols on the boarding pass but I can't make them out very well, I'll definitely have to look at them in person_.

Despite deciding this Chloe enhanced on the ticket itself as best as she could, but it was pixelated to hell. She looked up from the ticket to the check-in agent and froze for a second before rearranging the image's tilt. And then she saw it again.

 _Oh god oh god oh god_.

She typed in commands into her holographic keyboard and played the footage once more, but this time scanning for…

**HIT.**

**HIT.**

**HIT.**

**HIT.**

**HIT.**

**HIT.**

The footage hadn't even yet ended and yet multiple hits, and as the footage continued, more and more hits appeared, shocking her into breathlessness as she stared at the proof before her.

When the footage finally ended she closed down the holographic screen and hopped to her feet. They needed to act quickly! They needed to-.

Yanking a pen from her pocket, Chloe looked around desperately for a piece of paper. The Calculations and measurements were popping up blindingly in front of her, urgent and obstructing some of her vision. She needed to get them out!

Noticing one of the many notepads Lincoln had stashed around the office, Chloe yanked it out and started writing rapidly into it, as she wrote the equations they slowly dissolved from her vision, allowing her the ability to see unobstructed again. Once she was done she looked up, noticed Jared first, and tore out the paper, passing it to him.

"What do I-?" Jared glanced down at the paper.

"Get that to Abby, it should be safe enough for human inhalation but should still do its job." She turned to Tess. "Personnel should leave without making any sort of fuss and have it locked down." She turned to Anne. "Link video access to our screens." She turned to Dean and Sam. "Tell Vance, he needs to know."

"Chloe," Lincoln began.

"Agent Gibbs." Agent Broyles' voice was emotionless yet commanded attention, like always. He sat in his seat, fingers touching as he eyed her. "Are all of your orders this vague?"

"Vague?" Chloe asked in confusion, unable to understand how  _he_  didn't understand. And then she actually looked around and realized that everyone else was confused as well. She turned to Lincoln and saw that apologetic look in his eyes. It was what caused her to groan and lower her head, hiding her face in her hands. "You all have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?"

 _They're not in your head, they're not in your head, they're not in your head… they can't see what you do, they can't hear what you think… they're not in your head_!

Why was it so hard remember that?

"Eyes." She motioned to the video footage vaguely. "Look at their eyes."

"Whose eyes?" Dean asked.

" _Everyone's_."

"What about them?" Sam asked after a moment, and then he saw it and quickly traded looks with Dean.

"You're not telling me…" Dean's eyes widened as he noticed it, subtly, in one of the passengers, and then in another, and another. "Jesus!" He hurried to his feet. "C'mon Sammy, the Director needs to know about this!"

Sam was already on his feet and hurrying off towards the door.

"I'm still new to this," Tess admitted carefully. "I'm not sure what-."

Jared flung up enhanced screenshots, revealing the glimpses of laser-eyes.

"The glitch?" Agent Broyles asked oddly, eyebrow raised. "That is what has you concerned?"

"Eyes showing up like lasers on video footage… I've heard that before," Anne muttered to herself, although she still looked very confused. "Where have I heard something like that?"

" _Shit_." Jared went pale before he tightened his grip on the piece of paper Chloe had given him and dashed out of the room, headed towards the stairs, no doubt going to see Abby.

"How does  _he_  remember before me?" Anne wanted to know in an accusatory way as she pointed to Jared's back, before…

Lincoln went pale. "Nagual Academy."

"Huh?" Tess asked in confusion.

"It's one of the cases before I joined the team," Lincoln told her. "Peter and Chloe investigated a murder… and realized a nearby private academy was training its students to be… in the post notes, Schedule D, there was a summarized list of-."

Chloe stared up at Lincoln in surprise. He'd gotten to Schedule D? And he'd remembered it? Peter used to teasingly call her case notes Encyclopedia Weirdtanica, and with good reason, she tended to veer off course and get distracted and by the time it was over the case notes were  _way_  overinflated.

" _Shapeshifters_ ," Tess finished for Lincoln, proving she'd gotten to Schedule D as well. "Everyone in quarantine are  _shapeshifters_!"

Anne stumbled rapidly to her feet, racing towards where her computer was so she could hack into the cameras in the quarantine zone.

Tess went the way of Jared, and forewent the elevator to take the stairs.

"And you got all that by watching fast-forwarded grainy footage." It wasn't a question, more like an observation. Agent Broyles tapped his fingertips together as he eyed Chloe.

There really wasn't anything to say to that, especially since it'd just been a remark and not a question.

"Shitshitshit!" Anne cursed as suddenly the screens turned off, and when they turned back on they showed the inside of the quarantine zone. Every single person within had laser eyes. Even the guards and doctors.

"Initiate emergency lockdown." Chloe's eyes widened in horror as she stared at them.

"What if it is just a glitch? Everyone has the eyes," Agent Broyles countered oddly. "You might be wrong. To start up a panic amongst already traumatized-."

"Tess, everyone in there have laser eyes," Lincoln said into his phone. "Do not evacuate personnel. I repeat: do not evacuate personnel. Initiate emergency lockdown.  _Now_."

Chloe frowned as the image on the screen began to flutter in and out, before it was replaced all-together. No longer was she seeing the inside of the quarantine zone, but instead she was outside in what looked like some sort of cave. There, off to the side, was her dirty, bruised and bloodied reflection in a pool of water. Except, it wasn't  _her_  reflection.

_CeeCee sat on the hard cave floor, her back against the wall, her gaze constantly shifting nervously and her hand clutched tightly around something that looked a mixture between a stele and a knife. It was glowing the same purply black that her blade had been when she'd been battling the demon. She'd clearly been in a fight recently, very recently, and was in a lot of pain._

_"No doubt your little girlfriend is worried about you right now," a voice declared as a woman emerged from the shadows. Like CeeCee she'd clearly been through a fight, but unlike the blonde, this brunette was far less hurt. "Too bad she has no way of figuring out where you are. Not in time to save you, at least."_

_Shifting with a hiss to face the brunette, CeeCee clutched her modified stele tightly in her hand while clutching at her ribs with the other. "You can still get out of this alive. All you have to do is answer my questions."_

_Laughter escaped those lips as the woman tilted her head. "It's a pity our date was all a sham, you're actually pretty funny."_

_"Yes, well, it'd not surprising your dates don't have the time to be charming, not considering what you actually_ **_do_ ** _to them." CeeCee forced a smile on her face. "So, how do you determine how to look?"_

_"I appear as the person my date wants the most, or at least a very close variant," the shapeshifter replied, clearly at ease in the presence of her very defeated foe. Her body shifted into various beautiful women of different ethnicities, until returning back to the brunette bombshell she'd been previously. The shapeshifters in Chloe's reality weren't able to produce this level of shapeshifting, especially not spontaneously like that, the difference was shocking to say the least._

_"You should be blonde, then, or redhead," CeeCee muttered darkly, seemingly not impressed. "I have it on good authority that no matter who I am, I am attracted to blondes and redheads… and sometimes black hair. Never brunette though. So you're bad at your job."_

_Annoyance flashed on the brunette's face as she eyed CeeCee. "I take it back, you're annoying." When she moved to approach CeeCee, she surprisingly enough stopped when the blonde raised her hand in a staying motion. "_ **_What_ ** _? I'm hungry."_

_"You're also curious, otherwise I'd be dead already," CeeCee hissed as she shifted once more, clearly her ribs were hurting her. "So, since it's not like I'm going anywhere, and won't be found in time, humor me."_

_The brunette eyed her curiously. "You're the weirdest dinner I've ever had." She folded her arms over her chest and stood with her hip jutted out. "Okay, what do you want to know so badly? I'm feeling generous."_

_"Thanks." CeeCee shifted once more so she was sitting up straight, her face twisted and her right eye screwed shut in pain. "I've heard you're the Gosen Demon to talk to if I want information on a demon of unknown species named Mazikeen."_

_The brunette's eyes widened as she blinked. "Wait. This is about Maze?"_

_"Good, my informant wasn't wrong," CeeCee muttered in pain. "From what I could tell, Mazikeen is one of Lucifer's closest demons, right? She's not a prince or princess or even a lord or knight of hell, and yet her name pops up_ **_a lot_ ** _in the research I've been doing so that mean's she's important somehow." She took in a deep breath. "Look, Lindsey, can I call you Lindsey or do you have another name you prefer?"_

_The curiosity was plain in those hazel eyes. "Lindsey is fine."_

_"Great, so when was the last time you saw Mazikeen? I need to get in contact with her."_

_Lindsey just stared at CeeCee for a moment before she sighed and leaned against one of the cave's walls. "Bleh. Just the mention of her name has made me lose my appetite." She very clearly pouted. "Mazikeen and I aren't friends. She doesn't_ **_have_ ** _friends, or allies, or anyone. None of us do. All we have is allegiance. I personally couldn't stand her, but we did mingle in the same circles back in the day." She paused. "Is your plan to kill Mazikeen?"_

_CeeCee shrugged halfheartedly. "That depends on a lot of circumstances that I don't control."_

_Lips pursed in displeasure. "Well… if I can beat you you definitely couldn't go hand to hand against her."_

_"So she's stronger than you."_

_"EXCUSE ME?" Lindsey snapped, red-faced. "She is NOT stronger than me! Sure, she might be better at hand to hand combat, and with blades, but_ **_I_ ** _have actual_ **_power_ ** _._ **_I_ ** _can manipulate people's desires! She's just a little powerless soldier while I have all the_ **_real_ ** _power. I could make her love me if I wanted her to."_

_"You sound as if you really want her to," CeeCee informed her._

_To say Lindsey's face was beet red was putting it lightly. "No."_

_CeeCee tilted her head as she eyed Lindsey. "But you did want someone else to love you, or want you, at least, isn't that right? And that person didn't? They liked Mazikeen instead? Are they with her now?"_

_"Don't be ridiculous," Lindsey snarled. "Mazikeen can't keep a lover, she doesn't want to. I have no interest in anyone who'd be interested in her, especially not if they saw her true face. She keeps this half mortal complexion on, pretty dark hair, skin and eyes, because even to_ **_us_ ** _what she truly looks like is disgusting."_

_"Does that make her a better shapeshifter than you then? Since she's uglier?"_

_Lindsey appeared not sure whether to be insulted or not. "No. Of course not. I have a range of women I can look like, she has only the one… she can't even change the damned scar through her eyebrow."_

_"Someone like that sounds like she'd stick to a demon dimension or pocket," CeeCee muttered to herself. "Being ugly and all."_

_"You'd think," Lindsey muttered. "But no, girl loves her Wine Battle and Tomatina. Hides the blood."_

_"Thanks, that all the info I need." CeeCee smiled up at her. "And true to my word, since you answered all of my questions I won't kill you."_

_Laughter erupted from Lindsey's lips. "And what exactly did I tell you, except the fact that I hate the bitch?"_

_"You gave me her description down to the scar in her eyebrow, the fact that she can shapeshift but only into one human form, that she has no magical abilities so I only have to worry about hand to hand combat and knife play, and that she spends her time mingling with Mundies. She also doesn't have friends or a partner I need to keep an eye for - she'll be riding solo." CeeCee tilted her head with a smirk, looking far from the tired girl she'd seemed before. "You also mentioned two Spanish festivals, so not only can I deduct that she spends most of her time in Spain, but given the fact that this festivals run annually, I have a good idea of where and when to find her."_

_All amusement drained from Lindsey's face. "You're forgetting one thing, sweet cheeks, I'm about to eat you."_

_Shifting once more, CeeCee pushed up to her feet as she played with her stele with relative ease while pulling down the neck of her shirt, revealing a rune on her body. "See, Clary mightn't be able to get here on time, but with the Fehuruz she doesn't_ **_have_ ** _to." She pushed away from the wall and cracked her knuckles and neck while a smirk grew on her face. "I'd let me go if I were you."_

_"Listen here, Shadowhunter—."_

_"I'm not exactly a Shadowhunter," CeeCee interrupted as her pupils bled out, leaving her eyes demon-black._

_Lindsey's eyes widened in horror as she backpedaled. "_ **_You're_ ** _Lilith's daughter?!" Utter terror filled her. "When she finds out I've hurt you—_ **_why didn't you tell me who you were_ ** _?!" Fury mixed with fear as she began to pace. "When she finds out that I've touched you - hurt you—I'm dead! You should've just asked me! I would've told you everything if you'd told me you were The Daughter!"_

_"Yes, but you would've told Lilith that I was asking about Mazikeen," CeeCee replied easily. "This way you_ **_can't_ ** _tell her, otherwise you'll have to explain you hurt me, and like you said… she wouldn't like that. So it's in your best interest to just leave the subject a secret and pretend our little date never actually happened."_

_"I can't. I can't risk it getting to her." Lindsey's voice was low, her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to have to kill you - now more than ever."_

_CeeCee's smirk slipped from her lips. "Don't do this, Lindsey. You can still get out of this alive."_

_"Sorry, Princess," Lindsey snarled, face shifting, body turning into something terrifying and gruesome, into her true demon's visage as she attacked._

_Sidestepping the attack, CeeCee twirled on her heel and jammed her stele into the back of Lindsey's head, the tip visible through her parted lips. "I let you beat me so you'd talk," she admitted as she let go of her hold on the stele and gripped Lindsey's head, a sharp yank and loud crack following in seconds before Lindsey collapsed to the ground._

_Bending on her knees, CeeCee eyed the grotesque demon over curiously. She yanked her stele out and brushed the ichor and brain matter off on Lindsey's own shoulder before using the sharp edge to carve three identical runes into the demon's body - one on Lindsey's forehead, the other at her solar plexus, and another at her hip. As soon as the last rune was carved deep in, and the stele removed, cleaned, and put away into a hidden inner pocket in CeeCee's leather jacket, the hideous corpse began to disintegrate as if acid had been poured all over it, being eaten away from the three runes outwards until nothing but a gooey mess remained from which rose black, evaporating ichor._

_CeeCee reacted to the rising ichor as one would the most delicious of fragrances. Goosebumps trailed up her arms as her lips parted, and the pupils behind her half-veiled eyelids expanded to complete darkness. Closing her eyes, CeeCee held her hands out at her sides, as if taking it all in, before she finally shook her head, and when her eyes opened once more, the only black was once more her pupils._

_"So. Spain." CeeCee flinched and breathed rapidly, clearly psyching herself up for something as she removed her jacket and shirt, throwing them on the cave's floor, revealing the amount of runes and sigils covering her bruised upper body. There were so many they intersected at parts, and yet there was a part which held no runes, it was where a large scar remained on her abdomen. It'd been made by something large and very sharp._

_Grabbing her hair, CeeCee squeezed hard and rocked on her feet, a whimper of dread escaping her lips. "Just do it. Just DO it!" When she didn't do anything, she shifted on her heels and slammed her foot into the cave wall. "Just DO IT you coward!"_

_Another whimper escaped her as she let go of her hair, rolled her neck, her shoulders, and then, with a deep exhale, rested her hands on the untouched skin of her abdomen, palms up. Pain scrunched her features as CeeCee breathed out like one might while giving birth, short, rapid bursts. The scar under her hands burned before light and shadow appeared, mixing in the air in living motion._

_A sob escaped CeeCee's lips, her face completely scrunched up, eyes screwed shut as the light and shadows continued forming between her hands and stomach. Beads of sweat fell down her face as her features sharpened, above her eyes, on her forehead, a symbol flickered against her skin. It looked like a broken crown, but it was hard to tell with its flickering._

_Suddenly CeeCee's eyes opened and they were not only demon black, but a ring of purple light shone from their depths. Darkness and light converged, a mini electrical storm within CeeCee and between her hands, before a small explosion swept out before racing back to its source, and suddenly it was all gone, and in CeeCee's hand was a small white-bound book._

_Laughing painfully, CeeCee leaned hard against the cave wall and closed her eyes, her chest and shoulders moving with each breath. Licking her parched, broken lips, CeeCee flipped the book open and stared at its contents as she slid to the ground, ignoring the way the cave wall bit into her bare back. "Okay, I know what I need to about Mazikeen." She shook her head. "The Adept better freaking be doing her own homework into our joint project. I'm going to need her to do this."_

Chloe blinked and found the screens back to the quarantine zone, revealing the chaos within as the doors were sealed, leaving everyone trapped within. She was about to comment when she realized her arm was really cold, and that was when she looked down to realize Lincoln had a cold press against her blood rune. It must've activated while she was staring at the screens, and when activated it always seemed like embers, so it made sense that he'd try to cool it down.

Lincoln wasn't the only one there though. Agent Broyles was seated, legs crossed and fingertips touching as he watched them curiously. "She seems to be back to the present."

"You back with us, boss?" Lincoln asked as he removed the cold press from her rune to reveal it normal once more.

"Yes, was I gone for long?" Chloe asked softly.

"Five minutes at the most," Lincoln assured her while sending Broyles a wary look. "You should sit for a bit."

"I can't," she responded softly. "We need to handle the shapeshifter problem."

 _"_ And how exactly do you propose we do that?" Agent Broyles asked in a calm, utterly unnerving way.

Disoriented from trying to balance the two very different yet very pressing matters on her hands, Chloe took in a deep breath and then exhaled just as deeply. "We wait until Jared and Abby feed the mixture I gave them the ingredients to into the quarantine zone's air ventilation system. It'll sedate the shapeshifters, until then, we have other things we need to do." She clenched her fists. "Agent Broyles, you know your agent better than anyone. I need you to figure out where he is,  **now**. This is all tied to his girlfriend somehow, and we're going to need her and him both here in custody."

"I have my eyes and ears out there waiting for his signal," Agent Broyles declared condescendingly, as if she should already know this. "I will know when he resurfaces. Until then you should try to keep your part of this operation running, and stop woolgathering."

If CeeCee could face a demon shapeshifter on her own, Chloe could handle this man. She  _could_. No matter how much he intimidated her. "Agent Broyles, you've been assigned to assist the Fringe Division, so I suggest you get off your ass and assist."

Lincoln's eyes widened.

Agent Broyles' raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"In this department, my dick's bigger than yours, so let's just get this measuring contest out of the way." Chloe glared at him. "I don't need you sitting there, watching everyone and making little judgmental quips here and there while waiting for Agent Scott to make contact. I  **need**  you actively searching him out,  **hunting**  him. As of now,  **your** rogue agent is exactly that,  **rogue**. And if you don't bring him and his girlfriend in I'm making them America's most wanted individuals, which will bring a  **lot**  of attention to you and your organization. I'm sure you don't want that." She raised her chin. "Until they're in custody you should try and keep  _your_  part of this operation  _useful_ , and stop being a total asshat."

Agent Broyles tapped his fingers together as he watched her. "I suppose there is a rock I haven't overturned as yet." He eased to his feet fluidly and walked away, reaching for his phone.

Chloe watched him go, unable to believe that had just happened. She turned to ask Lincoln if maybe she'd gone a little too far, when she noticed his expression. "What?"

Lincoln cleared his throat. "It's nothing, it's just, it's nothing."

"What?" Unease mixed with embarrassment inside of her. "I went overboard, didn't I?"

"No." He shook his head rapidly and rubbed the back of his head, unable to really look in her direction. "You're the boss, no doubt of it, but I've never actually seen you be bossy before." His lips twitched. "It was different, that's all."

Eyes narrowed curiously, Chloe examined his body language before realizing he was a bit embarrassed. Why? Had she embarrassed him with her behavior? "I probably shouldn't have told him my dick was bigger than his."

In seconds Lincoln lost it. He covered his eyes, his shoulders shaking with his laughter. "The look on his face!" His scissored his fingers so he could peek through them at her, his lips curled and his eyes sparkling behind his glasses.

Chloe blinked in shock. Oh. Wow. She'd never seen him lose control like this. He was always controlled, proper, military. And yet… She couldn't stop the smile from forming on her face as she stared up at him, her laughter soft yet still joining his.


	11. Chapter 11

It was hard to keep her mind from running a search on "Mazikeen", but it helped that she had a room filled with knocked out or struggling to stay conscious shape-shifters. Given some of those shapeshifters were some of  _their_ people Chloe had had Jared and Abby feed the silver-infused cocktail into the air of the whole building.

10 more personnel were added to quarantine after reacting to the substance.

This was bad.

This was very bad.

A hundred and forty three passengers, plus cabin crew, medical and security personnel, and the 10 NCIS personnel affected…

"More than 200 shapeshifters," Vance breathed out slowly. "All congregated in one place – infiltrating our own ranks – they were planning on taking this whole facility over."

"Maybe, maybe not." Lincoln frowned. "Dean and Sam have gone with Tony and Ziva to investigate the apartments of our NCIS shifters – Anne, Abby and McGee are doing their technical wizardry – we'll know more once they're done."

Broyles eyed Tess, who was standing behind Chloe. "And you are doing what exactly?"

"My job," she responded crisply. "My primary objective is Agent Gibbs' safety. There's no way I'm leaving her side while surrounded by over 200 shapeshifters."

Broyles nodded, as if something he'd been wondering for a while had been confirmed. He didn't seem curious about Lincoln's presence, nor did he acknowledge Chloe, which really worked for her.

The blonde's mind was having a little bit of a meltdown as it tried to understand what exactly was going on. This sort of behavior was completely out of character for this species of shapeshifters. For one – unlike most shapeshifters – this species wasn't pack-minded, preferring to completely integrate with the life of the person they'd taken the place of. They wouldn't risk exposure by hanging together with others of their species – mounting a full scale attack on NCIS didn't make sense. And how did this play into everything else happening?

It didn't.

Unless…

Running out of the room to where her own computer was waiting, Chloe began typing into it, hacking into a feed she had no time to get a warrant for. She searched and finally found the right time stamp. Clicking the video file, Chloe pressed play and watched the footage until freezing a frame. Three pairs of eyes.

One lazered.

"Oh gods." Chloe leaned back hard against her seat. What the hell was happening here? What was she missing? There was something bigger going on.

Tapping her fingernails against the table's surface, Chloe frowned as a question popped in her mind. She went back to typing, bringing up the bio of every single shapeshifter identified – at least the bios of the people whose lives they'd taken over.

It was a lot, a  _lot_ , but knowing what to look for made the search quicker. Multiple hits spread cross the screen, which only made everything more confusing.

This wasn't an invasion or takeover. These shapeshifters hadn't even stolen other people's lives, not really. As far as Chloe could see, each individual had had a 'miraculous recovery' story, either having come back form an injury or illness that doctors hadn't had much faith that they would've – or having lived in comas for years before suddenly waking up. These shifters weren't stealing lives – they were merely taking over ones which would no longer be needed.

They'd had a great thing going for them – so why risk losing their hard earned anonymity with this move? Where were they going in such a hurry that they'd take this sloppy a risk?

Or what were they running from?

The answer had to lie somewhere, there was something she was missing. Everything was here, somewhere. She just needed to go over it again with a fined combed tooth, which she did. Several times, each time asking herself different questions, bringing up different scenarios, trying to find one in which this made any sort of sense.

How did a plane filled with shapeshifters fit in with a dealer of magical artifacts, a witch, and Agent Scott?

And then a theory hit her. Not one that would solve the case, but one that might put them closer in the vicinity of the truth. But to do that she needed to do some investigating of her own, needed to see the place herself.

"Tess?" She called out, knowing her protection detail was outside the door just hanging out and making sure she didn't leave and do something stupid on her own.

The door opened and Tess peeked her head in. "Yes boss?"

"You said you were allowed you to see her personal space, right?" Chloe reached into her drawers and threw some things in her bag before standing.

"You mean Calista Jane?" Tess asked, and when Chloe nodded, so did she. "Yeah, her boss let us see her prep room, but like I said, there's nothing there. Jared took pictures of everything though."

"I need to see it myself. Personally."

"I doubt the sleazeball owner will be happy that we're returning," Tess warned.

Slipping her badge into her pocket, Chloe grinned. "That's why you and Lincoln are coming with me."

* * *

 

While not having been invited, Philip had joined the threesome headed towards December's Lounge. He eyed the establishment, which was clearly preparing to open in a few hours. Like Tess had predicted, the boss was not happy to see them there again, but he'd had one of the girls show them to his office, where he awaited, obviously trying to appear like some hotshot Don Corleon type, but only really looked like a third-rate clerk at a porn shop.

"You already saw it," the man muttered unhappily.

"They did, not me," Chloe responded easily.

"Then you should'a come the first time," he muttered. "This ain't no charity. I was nice to yas before but ya can't keep thinking you can just waltz in here and-."

"Listen, there's a couple of different ways we can go about this," Lincoln declared as he leaned forwards, eyes on the owner. "Here's just two: you let us go and take another look and we'll be out as quickly as possible… or we go and get a court order for a warrant, and while we're at it we charge you with obstruction, possible conspiracy, check the status of your cleaning crew, as well as tie up your business in a long litigious-."

The owner let out a huge sigh. " _Right this way_." He stood and, after giving Lincoln a little glare, led the group towards the prep room.

Philip stayed in the back of the group, observing everyone, taking in their actions and reactions when they finally got to the prep room.

Chloe very visibly entered her own world and forgot there were other people around as she scrutinized every single details – wearing gloves to keep from contaminating anything-or something. He wasn't sure. He'd thought he'd had her pegged but now Philip realized Chloe Gibbs was weird, incredibly erratic and much of what she did nonsensical, yet it seemed to work somehow. That was why he'd decided to give every thing she did the benefit of doubt.

Tess really was a protection detail who branched out into investigative agent when her primary mission was safe and sound. Right now though, her primary objective was definitely not to investigate the room so much as it was to keep an eye on the owner and everyone else, securing the room and the blonde within. Philip had noticed her taking in how many people there were in the building, where they were stationed, everything.

Lincoln, for his point, leaned against a wall and just watched Chloe with a frown on his face. He didn't seem annoyed. No. that frown was more anxious than anything else, like he was expecting something bad to happen and was preparing himself so he'd react as quickly as possible. Which, given what Philip had seen of him, seemed to be Lincoln on default.

At first Philip had thought Lincoln as disapproving of Chloe's leadership as he'd been, or that they'd been some discontent or hostility breeding within him, but he'd seen enough by now to realize that wasn't the case. Lincoln's talents as an agent were being wasted because instead of being able to concentrate fully on the investigation he was focused on his boss. Not  _on_  her exactly, not in the typical way a man might usually focus on a woman, but she definitely was his focal point.

Chloe pressed the heel of her palm hard against her temple as she stared at a wall.

Lincoln frowned darker and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, personal-sized packet of Kleenex, which he placed wordlessly in her hand. Two seconds later her nose began to bleed.

"Thanks." Chloe's voice was muffled as she pressed the Kleenex to her nose, capturing the blood, yet not pausing in her investigation of the wall in question.

Philip couldn't see anything interesting about that wall, but then again he hadn't seen the sigils on the corpse, had he?

 _Benefit of doubt_.

"You jus came here ta stare at a wall?" The owner asked in confusion.

Chloe visibly didn't hear him and was mumbling so softly under her breath Philip couldn't hear what she was saying. She opened her bag and searched through its contents absentmindedly before she found something and applied it on her gloves. Whatever it was, when she reached forwards and trailed her gloved finger against the wall in odd designs it didn't show up, not even as a glossy sheen.

When she was done, Chloe nodded to herself and turned to the owner. "So did you find her or did she find you?"

He blinked for a second. "Calista? She found me. Wanted a job. Said she needed money." He shrugged. "She was hot and could entertain, I figured why not?"

"What?" Chloe asked in utter confusion before she groaned and covered her face. "People can't hear your thoughts, Chloe. When are you going to remember that, Chloe?" She tried again after taking a very deep breath. "Sorry, I meant: did the witch know about the danger your kind is under and offered her services – or, when the plane was compromised and you realized it would be coming to us, did you search her out for a way to impede our investigation so your people could escape without us knowing what was going on – Agent Scott?"

Philip's eyes widened and his head swizzle towards the owner.  _He's John?_

The owner's eyes were wide as well, and he turned to leave only to find Tess standing there, blocking the way, gun trained on him. Not even Philip, who'd thought he was at the back of the group, had noticed Tess moving during Chloe's monologue. He was highly impressed.

Lincoln gun was out as well, pointed at the owner, or Agent Scott.

 _John's a shapeshifter_. Philip stared at his agent, who was now unrecognizable.  _Was John killed and replaced – or was he_ ** _always_** _the shapeshifter_?

"How did you know?" John asked, very tired.

"A lot of things didn't make sense about this case, starting with you entering the building all hexed – yet the hexes were only meant to keep us chasing our own tails – quarantined in our own building – and away from the plane. The whole thing was confusing, and too coincidental for so many random things to be happening at the same time around the same plane… That's when I started with the premise that nothing was coincidental and everything was connected, which meant you were working with the shapeshifters and probably one of them yourself." Chloe continued to rub her temple. "These shapeshifters have survived hunting by completely immersing themselves with humans in a way that wouldn't draw too much attention to themselves, they're too careful to risk a move like this unless they had no other choice. It means they're being hunted, or running from something at least, and they wouldn't trust anyone but another of their kind to keep them safe. Since your girlfriend is clearly a witch, that meant the shapeshifter had to be you."

John Scott sighed as he hung his head in defeat.

"And I double checked my theory by accessing my department's file on you." Chloe didn't seem to notice John or Philip's surprise that the Fringe department had had a file on John before even meeting him. "You were in a motorcycle accident when you were a kid, the doctors didn't think you'd make it – but when they checked you the next morning you were conscious and quickly made a full recovery. That's your pack's MO, isn't it? Take the place of the dying—sustaining the same injuries yet using your quicker healing abilities to survive what killed the humans you replaced?" She pursed her lips. "I'm assuming there's a couple of you working in hospitals all across the nation to scout potential replacements."

John looked so nervous that he might puke. "We don't kill-we just want to live in peace. Maybe, if we don't give them a reason to-hunters will stop slaughtering our kind. We-."

"I know. Or, at least, I'd suspected as much." Chloe nodded as she drew towards him, hands clasped behind her back. "How can Fringe help?"

John's eyes widened. "Help?"

" _Help_?" Philip echoed the sentiment, but this time in derision. "They're  _creatures_. Creatures who stole people's identities and crept their way into positions of trust where they can spy against us. If this has taught us anything, it's that these things cannot be trusted."

John flinched and lowered his head. "Sir, I apologize for the deceit, but my being a  _creature_  hasn't ever kept me from doing my job. I'm the man you always knew. You trusted."

Clearly that had been a mistake.

Philip had never mistrusted his judgment as much as he did at that moment. How had he not realized he'd had someone like John investigating The Pattern? No wonder Fringe had a higher clearance level than they did! At least everyone on that team were human!

"I don't share his prejudice," Chloe announced easily, drawing John's attention back on her. "There are evil humans and good creatures." She glanced towards Lincoln for some sort of backup, and to Philip's horror Lincoln lowered his gun, holstering it. "Tess-."

"I have been given the authority to override any order you give me if your order puts you in danger, ma'am," Tess interrupted, gun still pointed at John's back. "If he's really one of the good guys then he won't do anything to make me pull the trigger, so he shouldn't worry about my gun being trained at him."

A surprising smirk touched John's lips. "I like her." He sighed, his shoulders dragging for a second as he took in a deep breath, only to nod and level Chloe with his gaze. "I want Fringe to be given sole jurisdiction over our case, no one else."

"Done."

A muscle jumped in Philip's cheek. She did  _not_  have the authority to do that. Not when  _his_  division actually  _hired_  the creature using John's skin.

John sighed and nodded as he held out his wrists. "I'm ready to go in now."

* * *

 

Lincoln didn't trust Agent Broyles to let them handle this on their own in their own way. That was why, once they'd entered the Fringe offices he'd quietly asked Anne to not only make calling or texting in or out of the place impossible, but to instigate a little lockdown on their own. There were no sirens to warn those within, but should someone try to sneak out they'd definitely realize there was no way out, and should he be questioned Lincoln could remind Broyles they were detaining a 'high-level detainee who could not only change his appearance', but who'd already been given access to the building. Broyles wouldn't be happy about being kept confined inside in that way, but he'd be unable to truly argue with that reason.

Chloe didn't seem to have thought about this, as she'd instead taken Sam and Dean aside and was talking to them. The guys didn't seem very happy with whatever she was telling them, but given everything Lincoln wasn't surprised. There wasn't much to be happy about right now.

Thankfully the only ones in the interrogation other than John and Chloe were Tess and Lincoln himself – the rest of the team, and Broyles himself – were watching everything through the screens. So even though Broyles wasn't here to interrupt, Lincoln had no doubt the man was building a case against everyone very silently in his seat. Lincoln couldn't distract himself with those thoughts though, not with what was going on right now.

"You gave up your life as John Scott to become this man," Chloe commented as she eyed him. "What happened to the human you replaced?"

John sighed and leaned back hard in his seat. "He died years ago. December's Lounge has been a waystation for our kind when they're in trouble, a place for them to stay under the radar until they can either find a new body, or the heat is taken off of them and they can find a more permanent place. Ever since Ernie died in the 30s, one of our kind has assumed his mantle to keep watch over the strays and stragglers."

"How exactly does this work though?" Chloe asked curiously. "I thought you had to come into contact with the actual human to be able to take their shape – not just another shapeshifter in his shape."

"It only works with Ernie and a few select people who play similar key roles," John was clearly very uneasy divulging all this information. "Whoever wears them switches places every so often so they don't get attention due to their appearance not aging."

"So their appearance is the only thing that doesn't age, not the shapeshifter him or herself." Chloe tilted her head.

John nodded. "Those key identities are a mantle that's passed down to a select few who are charged with keeping our kind safe-a benefit of our ancestors' good relations with witches."

Lincoln hadn't had a case where supernatural beings of two completely different species worked together before, and the thought was more than a little intimidating. He understood Broyles' misgivings, hell, he had his own, but he wouldn't show any sort of dissension, especially not in front of Broyles. Once they had all the facts he'd talk to Chloe alone and share his concerns regarding this, until then he'd keep his own counsel and try to be as unbiased as possible, which, to be completely honest, wasn't that easy.

Was this what Peter would do were he here?

Lincoln had found himself asking that question over and over again. What would Peter have done? It'd started as a guideline to follow yet had quickly turned into a double-edged sword as Lincoln found himself questioning his decisions over and over again.

"So, John." Chloe folded clasped her hands together over the table's surface. "Why are your pack risking their anonymity and the safety it provides?"

John glanced towards the camera recording this, clearly uneasy, before he sighed and returned his gaze to Chloe. "We're not like many other shapeshifting clans, we don't have claws or fangs or heightened senses to protect us, we were given something else entirely, something which has kept us from being completely eradicated during the worse of the Hunting Wars." He leaned forwards and stared at Chloe. "We've got an instinct. For danger. And it's growing.  _Everywhere_."

"What sort of danger?" Chloe asked softly.

Unease coiled in Lincoln's stomach. There was no way this could be related to their side project, could it? Clearly the question was running through Chloe's mind as well, but thankfully she wasn't giving anything away with her expression other than interest.

"What do you know about the beginning?" John finally asked.

"The beginning of what?" Chloe wanted to know.

"Of everything," he replied immediately. "The beginning of this world. Of humans and creatures. Of language and-."

Lincoln was glad his hands were on his thighs already and not visible under the table as he clenched them immediately in reaction. The beginning of language. The First Language. The language know one knew anymore, but Chloe kept scribbling out manically whenever she suffered through her fits.

Reed had said it was obviously important, although no one had been able to understand why. They hadn't really thought much of it, had just taken it in stride as yet another weird thing that happened when Chloe became overwhelmed with her Adept abilities and with the weakening of her bond with a temporary Bonder. They'd swept it under the figurative rug as something that would make sense once Chloe finally found a permanent Bonder. That was supposed to lessen, if not cure, her fits and everything that came with them – or so they believed.

But what if it was more than that?

What if this was a locked up part of Chloe's knowledge-base which was acting up because it could see things they did not? That it noticed signs they could not?

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the water. And God said, let there be light: and there was light." Chloe surprised him by quoting verbatim. She rested her elbows on the table and her chin on her laced fingers as she stared at John. "With current events being what they are I figured I should read some relevant resource materials."

Lincoln would've never considered the Bible a relevant resource material.

Peter might've.

_Get your head in the game! You can't afford to overlook anything! Not anymore!_

He made a mental note to start reading the Bible. It was right there on his list with finishing the books on quantum physics, world mythology, world religions, the Adept Files (as he was calling the extensive information Chloe had given him in regards to the Adept), as well as the various books on taking care of people with particular needs and other reference and resource material he had stacked up and waiting for him to dig in. It was a good thing he'd recently become an utter insomniac, as well as addicted to coffee, because with work and everything else going on around him he wouldn't have had any time to try and catch up on what he needed to do to make himself more useful in the organization.

Also, thankfully, many of those books were available in audio format so he could listen to them while exercising – because he couldn't let his body go to waste while trying to improve his mind. Without an Anchor Chloe was weak, both mentally, physically and emotionally, so without Peter to be there for her Lincoln had had to step up. He wasn't half the replacement he should've been, Peter was much smarter, but he had to try.

"You're talking about the beginning of humanity," John surprised them by saying. "Not about the beginning of monsters. God created man. He created angels. He did not create monsters."

Well, now that Lincoln thought about it he could get that. Monsters weren't exactly God's MO, were they? And yet, if God hadn't created monsters, who had? Who  _else_  had the power to create life? And why hadn't they heard of this person before? The thought that someone with that kind of power could be around, lurking in shadows and anonymity, was terrifying.

"Unlike your Father, the Mother of All has not forsaken her children," John continued in a soft yet happy tone. "Even in her own prison she weakens herself to send word to her First Children of the coming danger. We might be the first of her children to heed her call to seek shelter and hide from what is going to come, but we will not be the last."

"What does this… Mother of All… say is coming?" Chloe narrowed her eyes.

"A light which will burn the worlds with its fury," John whispered, clearly terrified. "I thought the Pattern was what would put this world, and our lives on it, in danger, that that was the danger we'd been feeling, but Mother has spoken. All we can do is hide within the recesses of the earth and hope that when the light burns the world, we will be safe deep within her." He sighed heavily as he leaned back against the seat. "But that will not be possible now that Agent Broyles knows, will it." He closed his eyes. "I will stay, I will suffer through any interrogation—will remain in prison—-will face the light and let it burn me to ash with the rest of the world—-but please allow my people to escape." His eyes opened as he stared into Chloe's. "Please give them a fighting chance."

Chloe stared into his eyes silently.

Lincoln knew she couldn't give him what he was asking for. It would be breaking all sorts of regulations. And John was right, now that Broyles and the base knew about the shifters there was no way that they'd be able to go free. People would view them as a threat, and they were. Even if John's story was true, that didn't mean anything.

Chloe continued to just stare silently at John, while John continued to hold her gaze and plead with his own.

Lincoln shifted a glance in Tess' direction, seeing the same unease on her expression. Her hand was on her holstered gun, clearly ready and willing to use it against the shifter if need be. Lincoln wasn't even sure whether she had tranqs or whether they were live rounds. He wasn't sure she cared either way as long as Chloe's safety was assured.

"You're not a threat, John," Chloe surprised Lincoln by announcing as she leaned back against the chair. "I asked you before how Fringe could help, and I meant it. Why do you think I didn't have the other shapeshifters at December's Lounge arrested along with you? Your pack is admirable. You don't kill innocent people. You take lives which are already gone. You're all also big into community service in one way or the other. I've been going through everyone's personal folders and you're good people." She grabbed her Suppressant, betraying the fact that something was happening to her, bothering her, but she was trying to push passed it and continue with this conversation. "I understand why Peter chose you. On paper you're amazing. But he didn't know what you are."

"I'm confused," John admitted. "Are you talking about Mr Bishop? Your consultant? What did he choose me for?"

"It doesn't matter now," she responded. "What matters is your girlfriend has finished freeing your friends from the quarantine they're in, and the building is very much blacked out right now. Everyone affected will probably have some form of memory loss."

"What are you saying?" Tess frowned. "If something were to happen the alarms—-."

"I deactivated them on our way in. I also lowered the wards." Chloe blinked at Tess, looking very confused for some reason. "How else was she supposed to be able to get everyone out of here?"

"Why would you do that?" Lincoln wanted to know, telling himself he had no right to feel a hurt that she hadn't trusted him enough to let him in on her plan. He didn't blame her, couldn't. He hadn't proven himself yet. He wasn't Peter. They both knew that.

Chloe's confusion seemed to grow as she looked at Lincoln. "Why would you ask me that? You  _know_  why." She then blinked, eyes wide. "You  _do_  know why? Right?" She flinched as she glanced between Lincoln and Tess. "I  _did_  share my plan with you guys,  _right_?" When she was met with nothing but Lincoln and Tess' blank stares, Chloe groaned and grabbed her hair. "You have to verbalize your thoughts, Chloe! Why is that so hard to remember, Chloe?"

John just stared at her in utter confusion.

That part of Lincoln that'd been hurt at having been kept in the dark was relieved, and he was annoyed with it. His reasons for understanding her 'keeping him out of the loop' still remained.

The door suddenly flew open and Calista Jane stood there in jeans and a sequined shirt. She strolled into the interrogation room, ignoring the gun Tess had trained on her as she eyed John. "Hey babe. The family is still sedated, but safe and on their way towards our prior destination."

His eyes widened as he turned his gaze on Chloe. "You really did help them escape?  _Why_?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Dean muttered as he strolled in with Sam behind him, his gaze on Chloe. "We only just barely got her to believe we'd knew she'd be there and were waiting to bring her in. She nearly hexed us too like the others. She got Anne and Jared before we could clear everything up, but Sam and I worked around that deviation to plan."

"What's going on, Chloe?" Sam wanted to know. "Why did you have us lower the defenses so she could break in?"

So  _that_  was why Chloe had pulled the brothers to the side when they'd first arrived!

"How did you even know the defenses would be down and you'd be able to break in this time?" Tess wanted to know, gun still trained on Calista.

"Because she told me," Calista responded with a 'duh' tone. She turned to Chloe with a smirk. "I still don't know how you saw the message board, but leaving a message in invisible ink—-how did you even know I'd get it?"

"You're resourceful," was all Chloe answered with a shrug. "I figured the shapeshifters left at the lounge would tell you where we'd arrested John, and you'd investigate it first, and you'd find my message."

Invisible ink?

Lincoln's eyes widened… Chloe hadn't been checking the wall, she'd been leaving a message!

The blonde turned to him and flinched. "I really thought I'd told you about my plan." The apology was clear in her tone before she cleared her throat and returned her attention to Calista. "I could really use a witch as strong as you from time to time. That was some impressive magic you displayed when you 'hexed' your boyfriend and got him passed my wards."

Calista eyed John before her gaze turned to Chloe. "I had to try and save them, but I couldn't risk actually hurting the Adept."

"And why's that?" Tess wanted to know.

"Because while I'm helping John's people get to safety, I refuse to believe some mysterious light will destroy us all," she replied. "There has to be a way to stop it from happening, and if there's anyone who has the knowledge to stop it, it's the Adept. There's been countless attempts at Apocalypses throughout the centuries - the Adepts know this, and even if she's not permanently bonded yet, that information is still in her." She raised her chin as she met Tess' gaze. "The only person in this room who isn't expendable is  _her_. And I'm including myself."

Tess eyed Calista very seriously before she slowly, finally, put away her gun. "So we both agree on one thing, at least."

"So you really want us to follow the shapeshifters?" Dean made a face. "Protect them?"

Sam eyed John and Calista before he turned to Chloe. "That's not usually what we do."

"I know, but you're the only ones who can do this without it seeming weird," Chloe admitted. "You the Nomads, you're supposed to be on the road."

"You know what, if it gets me out of the damned psychological evaluation I'm in." Dean made a face. "I can't believe this is the better alternative."

Sam rolled his eyes but nodded his agreement to Chloe. "We'll go get everything prepared while everyone else is still out cold."

Lincoln watched them as they left, before he turned his attention back to the others.

"So, you're really going to let us go?" John asked in surprise. "But you'll get in trouble for this."

"I'll be getting something from you, something I need." Chloe leaned forwards. "I want all information you have about your Mother, her message, and the light that's supposed to destroy us." She glanced up at Calista. "That's where she comes in."

A muscle jumped in Calista's cheek but she nodded. "I can do it if Johnny says it's okay."

John didn't seem to understand, and then he did. "Do it."

Calista moved to stand between John and Chloe, placing her hands on their foreheads, and then her eyes flashed as she whispered: " _Wohs reh lla ehs sdeen ot ees."_

Chloe and Johnny's eyes clouded over, flashing like Calista's.

Lincoln stood, uneasy, as was Tess, but he stood his ground.

That was until Chloe and John both collapsed, unconscious, on the table.

Calista groaned, a hand to her head. "They're fine, that's just—-I couldn't—-they need to sleep. Me too. But we have to go. Now."

Tess turned to Lincoln.

Easing the sleeping blonde into his arms, Lincoln nodded. "Do it."

Tess sighed and nodded. "C'mon Top Hat. Let's get you and your boyfriend out here before I change my mind."


	12. Chapter 12

Chloe awoke in bed to find Anne seated next to her writing in what appeared to be a journal. The brunette version of herself didn't seem to have realized Chloe was awake as yet, her expression pinched as she continued to write feverishly in the journal. She'd pause for a second, take a breath, gather her thoughts, and then continue on with whatever she was jotting down.

Finally, the weight of Chloe's gaze must've tipped her off, because Anne looked down at her and smiled as she finished what she'd been writing and closed her journal. "Look who finally woke up. I had to kick dad out because he was wearing a hole in the floor. He's out with Tess getting food." She smirked mischievously. "I think a part of him likes how unintimidated by him she is, but he'd never admit that."

"Never," Chloe admitted as she glanced out of the window to see it was dark outside. Where was Lincoln? Hadn't they agreed that tonight they'd, uh, forge the bond? It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with her family, she did, she loved them, and she had little time with Anne, but with everything that was going on it was imperative that she get a permanent Anchor.

"He's dealing with the fallout," Anne answered the question Chloe hadn't asked. "To say that the higher ups are not happy is putting things lightly. Everyone's a little hazy as to the details of what's happened, but they know something happened, and that we know more than we're saying."

Lincoln shouldn't have to deal with that brunt of that all by himself, not when it'd all been Chloe's idea.

"He said to tell you he had it," Anne once again answered in a way that almost seemed telepathically. "And he's not alone, Jared went to back him up. Jared has contacts in the Pentagon, and he knows better how to talk to the people there. They'll be fine." She smiled. "We're getting food for them too when they come back."

Inhaling deeply, Chloe sat up and then paused when she noticed the bandaid around Anne's finger. "What happened?"

Embarrassment colored Anne's cheeks. "I wanted to try-but it doesn't work." She cleared her throat and showed an attempt at the rune on Chloe and Anne both, which hadn't stuck, and was sloppy, and was smudging away little by little. "I think it only works if CeeCee does it." She hugged her knees to her chest. "We're basically the same person so I thought it might work for me…us… but she clearly has something we don't."

There was stark disappoint in Chloe's chest. "I was going to try the same thing. I don't want this to be goodbye."

Anne gulped and nodded her agreement. "We might never see each other again." She turned her gaze on Chloe. "I know it's the right thing, but I'm going to miss everyone here so much." She reached out and placed her hand on Chloe's. "I know we're two versions of the same person, but I learnt to see you like a sister."

"Me too." Chloe squeezed Anne's hand. "You have to promise me that if you need anything – if you're in danger – you'll find a way to get in contact with us. We'll find a way to help."

"You too." Anne stared at their joined hands. "I want to help, the worlds are in danger, and I can't stand the idea of just sitting on my hands not doing anything while you guys put yourselves in danger!"

Chloe shifted to lean her head against Anne's shoulder.

Anne let out a heavy breath. "I really like Tess."

"I know," Chloe whispered back.

There was a pause, and then a soft: "Tess said she found you and Lincoln in a weird position in the bathroom."

Ah. So Tess  _had_  found it odd, she just had a helluva poker face! "He's going to be my permanent Anchor. The plan is for us to do the ritual tonight."

Anne pulled away quickly and turned to look at Chloe with eyed eyes surprise. "Are you sure? Don't get me wrong, I think Lincoln is perfect for the job, but with everything you've gone through I don't want you to rush into anything until you're ready." She cleared her throat. "I mean, the last time you had a permanent Anchor…"

"I know." Chloe nodded as she gripped her Suppressant. "I need to do this now though, while this is still working. It really-it really helps. I mean, I feel as if I haven't needed as much translating as I usually do."

Anne's eyes widened. "I hadn't even realized that, but you're right, you haven't!"

Chloe stared at the Suppressant, feeling CeeCee's energy circling within it every time she gripped it. This was still drawing from CeeCee, so how exactly was that affecting the other version of her? She finally met Anne's gaze. "I'm going to be fine."

Anne searched her eyes before smiling and reaching out to hug her. "Of course you are. I'm just glad you finally realized that."

Smiling, Chloe squeezed Anne before pulling away and trying for a lighter subject. "I had no idea you kept a journal."

"It's not exactly a journal," Anne admitted with a little shrug, her gaze on the journal between them, but when she reached for it her fingers stopped just shy of touching it. Her fingers were flickering between visible and not. Her eyes widened in trepidation as they rose to meet Chloe's. "I'm not ready to go back yet. There's still so much I want to do – to say."

Not sure what to say, or if there was anything she could say to make any of this better, Chloe merely reached out and grabbed Anne's hands, both girls squeezing the other tightly.

"Tell dad I think he's an amazing father, that I'm grateful for how he welcomed me as another daughter, and that I'm going to miss our late night chats. Also tell him that I got him some actual glasses for when he's in the basement. Just because he's a pain in the ass and refuses to take care of himself doesn't mean I'm going to let him get away with it." Anne instructed rapidly. "It's not sanitary for him to drink out of-." Her whole body flickered, her breath caught in her throat, and then exhaled when she returned to solid and visible. "Tell Lincoln it's okay to be himself, he doesn't have to be anyone else." She flickered again, and again. "Tell Jared that even though I bust his chops all the time I've never doubted his value to this team. Tell him I'm going to miss his humor and the way he could always bring a smile to my face…even though I usually ended up slapping him up the back of his head for it." Anne disappeared for three very long seconds before returning with a deep gulp of breath. "Chloe, CeeCee was right. You're so strong. Much stronger than you ever give yourself credit. You need to realize that. Please find that strength we all see in you."

Chloe's throat clogged with emotion. "I'll do my best." She watched Anne flicker again, and again, and again, each one getting faster and faster, closer together. It wouldn't be long now. "I wish I was like you, Anne. I admire you so much but I feel like I've never actually told you how much, and I'm really sorry about that… and I'm going to miss you so much."

"Thank you. I'm going to miss you too, I'm going to miss  _everyone_  so much." Anne's desperate gaze went to the door, her voice thick, breaking when she whispered: "Tess was supposed to be here."

"What do I tell her?" Chloe asked urgently, begging their father and Tess to get back, to be on time. And yet, if they didn't-. "What do I tell Tess?"

Anne tore her gaze from the door and rested it on Chloe. "Tell her-."

And with that, Anne flickered out of existence.

Chloe stared at the spot Anne had been sitting in, warmth still rising from it. Tears filled her eyes as she gripped handfuls of the blanket around her. While she knew Anne was alive, Chloe felt grief at her loss. For all intents and purposes Anne was just as well as dead to them – they'd probably never see her ever again – and that loss clawed at Chloe's throat.

And yet she wouldn't be the only one suffering through that grief. Her father – Tess – each in their own way had lost someone very important to them, and yet, unlike Chloe, they hadn't been able to be there at the end to say their goodbyes.

It was around that time, as she reached for Anne's journal and hugged it to her chest, that Chloe's front door was kicked in and a SWAT teams filed in, guns high.

* * *

"They've been  _arrested_?" Tony's voice rose very high before he lowered it when everyone glared at him as they gathered around the desks. "How could they be arrested?"

"My contact says that they're under suspicion of treason," Ziva hissed as she glanced around to make sure no one was listening into their conversation. "Whatever happened that caused us all to lose our memories, and for the disappearance of the passengers… they're blaming Fringe. Gibbs was brought in too as he is so close to Chloe and because he wouldn't just let them take Tess in without telling him what was going on."

"We need to do something," Abby whispered as she nibbled nervously on her thumbnail. "We can't just leave them in custody like that!"

"They'll be fine, they didn't do anything bad, that we know of," McGee worried from his seat. "This could just be, I don't know—-."

"Vance has to do something, right?" Abby wanted to know. "He can't just sit down and allow this to happen!"

The others shared a worried look.

Depending on how high the order for arresting had come from, there mightn't be anything Vance could actually do.

* * *

Chloe looked around the table at the rest of her team, who were seated and in handcuffs, just like she was. She'd expected some sort of action but she hadn't expected  _this_. At least they weren't considered very dangerous, and the only reason she knew this was that they hadn't been patted down, or at least,  _she_  hadn't. Otherwise they would've noticed the fact that she'd stashed Anne's journal down the back of her pants, its outline completely covered by the overlarge jacket she'd worn.

"Sorry, boss," Jared sighed from where he sat, glaring at his handcuffs. "We obviously didn't do a good job."

Lincoln's fists were clenched tightly. He wouldn't look at her no matter how many times she tried to catch his gaze.

Tess' gaze was similarly lowered, but her expression was far from defiant, it was pinched, pained. The redhead was smart. She understood what the lack of Anne's presence meant.

Gibbs was similarly silent, but he was clearly trying to think his way out of this for all of them. The frustration in his eyes proved he hadn't come up with anything as yet.

At least Dean and Sam were on the road and not mixed up in all of this.

"No, I'm the one who got us in this mess," Chloe replied softly. "I'll get us out of it, somehow."

The door opened and the Secretary of Defense, Mitchell Carsons, entered, a frown on his face. His security detail were close behind him, joining the security already in the room as they closed the door behind them and kept an eye on everyone.

"Was this really necessary?" Chloe wanted to know as she raised her wrists, displaying the handcuffs.

"You made it so," Secretary Carsons muttered as he took a seat. "I don't like this any more than you did, but Agent Broyles' accusations were hard to overlook given what has happened." He clasped his hands together as he stared her down. "It didn't help that Agents Lee and Booth were unable to give satisfactory explanations."

Lincoln closed his eyes tightly, his knuckles milky white with how hard he was clenching his fists. It was then and there that she realized he blamed himself for what was happening, he thought it was his fault, that he'd failed them by being unable to pacify the higher ups.

"Where is Anne Gibbs?" Secretary Carsons wanted to know. "It will only look worse for you if you keep her hidden."

"She's gone. As my reports have previously informed you, her time in our reality was always numbered." Chloe shot a look towards Tess, who didn't react, and sighed as she returned her attention to the man in charge. "It happened right before your men broke my door down and dragged me out of my bed."

For his part, Secretary Carsons flinched at that and cleared his throat while sending a look at the men in the room. He then returned his attention to Chloe with a sigh. "Your retrieval could've been handled with more consideration, especially given your delicate condition." He gave the security detail in the room a very long look before once more returning his attention to Chloe. "But you must understand that an accusation of treason is taken very seriously, especially when the people involved are people who deal with such  _sensitive_ information as your division does."

"And  _you_  should understand, Secretary, that I was given the authority to make certain decisions when time is precious and the fate of the world is at risk. There are times in which I cannot wait for bureaucracy to take a stab at the situation, there are situations where I don't have  _time_  to spoon-feed a room of men who - and I'm going to be brutally honest right now - not only don't understand what is going on, but never  _will_." Chloe clenched her fists. "I didn't ask for the Fringe Division, if you remember, and I'm sure you do, I fought tooth and nail not to have this job. I didn't want this. I was okay helping NCIS now and then, but  _you_  came to  _me_. I was, quite frankly,  _bullied_  into taking this job and creating the Fringe Division."

Senator Carsons didn't react to this, merely continued to listen to her as she vented.

"You have a problem with one of my decisions? You bring  _me_  in! You don't bring my people in! My  _father_! You  _do not_ treat them like common criminals!" She slammed her fists against the table so loudly, so unexpectedly, that one of the security detail flinched. "I have done every single thing I've been asked, I've buckled under your council's very inconsiderate and sometimes utterly ridiculous demands! So has my group! They've worked their asses off for you, for this country, and they deserve much better than they're getting! You don't respect me or my decisions?  _Fine_. But respect them, because anything they do is because  _I tell them to_. Because YOU," she pointed her handcuffed hands at him, "put ME in charge!"

Senator Carsons raised an eyebrow. "Are you done?"

Taking in a deep breath, Chloe sat back down.

Sending a look towards the rest of the group, Senator Carsons reached into his pocket, pulled out his glasses and put them on before opening the folder in front of him. "So, now that you've aired your grievances, let's get to the crux of the matter. The passengers of a flight which was quarantined by Agent Broyles' department are all missing, and not only this, but NCIS personnel and others have either gone missing or are suffering memory loss." He looked up at Chloe. "In their debriefing, Agents Lee and Booth answered each question with such keen ability for diversion and run-arounds I would advise them to run for politics if they weren't in suspicion of treason." He clasped his hands in front of him. "I've heard Agent Broyles' accounts, and Agent Lee and Booth's. Now, I would like to hear yours."

Chloe opened her mouth to answer.

Senator Carsons raised a hand to stop her. "Before we dive into that, however, how likely is it that there will be issues due to the breaching of realities with Anne Gibbs' return to her rightful place?"

"Maybe some small ripples, but nothing major, her return is reality righting itself," Chloe answered immediately despite her annoyance.

"And how likely is it that another reality might clash undesirably with ours?" He wanted to know. "There must be a way to assure that a trespass of this kind does not happen again."

Chloe raised an eyebrow and leaned forwards, resting her hand over the sigil CeeCee had left on her. "Why would you trust anything a traitor has to tell you, Senator?"

He sighed, as if she were being a child.

"Sir, if I may speak," Gibbs cleared his throat as he leaned forwards, waiting for the Senator to nod before he begun. "The Fringe Division has been nothing but effective since its creation. They've closed case after case, Chloe saved the joint chiefs' children before the division was even created. The only issue they have had was with a case brought to her by Agent Broyles himself, a man whose own Agent is in suspicion of being a turncoat." He leaned back in his seat. "I would take what  _he'd_  say with a grain of salt, especially when he has so much to lose."

Okay, why couldn't she have that cool? She scratched her rune, which was itching for some reason.

"I'm going to be very blunt with you, Senator," Chloe announced as she took in a deep breath. "I did have a hand in the disappearance of the passengers and NCIS agents, but they are safe, unharmed, and headed towards someplace where they will be safe. I would've explained this myself but was indisposed because, as you've mentioned before, I'm in a delicate condition." She hated playing that card but she was going to use what she could. "Lincoln and Jared were not able to give you a satisfactory debriefing because they themselves are not informed on exactly what happened. They were trying to give me enough time to come too, as, up until then, I was unconscious."

Senator Carsons' left eyebrow rose, very slightly, but it still rose nonetheless. "I assume this is due to the fact that you are still without a permanent Bonder – a situation which should've never been dragged out this long."

"There isn't a Tinder for magical anchors," Chloe informed him dully. "And, another thing I would've informed the board once I returned to consciousness, was that even though my personal business is  **not**  their business, I  **have** found myself a permanent Bonder. In fact, we were going to perform the Bonding Ritual tonight, but instead…" She lifted her handcuffed wrists, again. "The only ones to blame for my situation being 'dragged out this long' are the ones who arrested us."

Again, Senator Carsons' left eyebrow rose a little as he eyed the folder in front of him. "I don't see mention of a permanent Bonder having been chosen. Who is it? I admit to being curious as to who finally met all of your stringent conditions."

Chloe cleared her throat and glanced towards Lincoln to find him staring at his knuckles still. She sighed and motioned with her handcuffed hands in his general direction.

Senator Carsons' made a face as his eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline. "Agent  _Booth_?"

"Hey!" Jared squeaked, obviously insulted at the disbelief in the senator's tone.

"No." Chloe motioned once more, more obviously this time.

"Ah." Senator Carsons eyed Lincoln before he nodded and returned his attention to the folder, making some notes on a notepad. "I see."

"Why isn't he shocked about  _him_?" Jared whispered unhappily to Tess.

"Now that we have that down, let's return to our previous topic." The senator looked up from the notepad. "You've admitted to having a hand in what has happened, confirming Agent Broyles' story partway. Now explain to me where yours deviates from his."

Chloe stared at the man and took in a deep breath. "I am sure you are aware that the only case we have been unable to close is the Tarot Murders." When the man nodded she continued. "There's been a development in that department, and while we still do not  _who_  is committing the murders, we know the  _why_. It's a old ritual called the Strengthening which is used to Strengthen weakened powers."

Senator Carsons' eyebrow twitched once more. "There is someone being strengthened by these rituals." He sat up fuller. "Do we know who? And why haven't you come to the council before with this information?"

"Because, sir, even in our line of work it's very hard to believe," she muttered with a sigh. She wasn't lying. Even though she death with monsters all the time the  _devil_  was a whole different thing. "I wanted to have more information, proof, before bringing it to the council, as, to be honest, it was very hard for  _me_  to swallow. I was still building a case to bring, and the situation with the passengers gave me another seed of truth, but in order to get the information I received I had to make a deal, one which I honored."

"Their disappearance." He was stating, not asking. "Whatever you got in exchange for their freedom better have been worth it."

"It depends," she sighed as her eyes met his. "How do you feel about the end of the world as we know it?"

Senator Carsons's eyebrow rose fully. "Elaborate."

So she did. She told him everything, even CeeCee, even though she merely mentioned CeeCee was like Anne, another version of her from another reality – and left out the more unhuman aspects of her. She told him about the Mother of All (leaving out certain details) and the prophecy, all leading down to her blacking out.

There was silence as Senator Carsons eyed her. "Lucifer."

"Yes." Chloe nodded.

"As in cast from heaven, Lucifer." The disbelief was strong in that one.

"Yes."

He sighed and leaned back against his seat, removing his glasses. "I can see why you would not come straight away. Everything in my body tells me this is the largest pile of baloney I've ever seen. I don't know whether to applaud you for the bravery of coming up with a story like this, or just wonder if this is the best you can come up with on such short notice."

"I understand how this sounds, Senator Carsons, but I'm sure you have your men combing over our things in the Fringe Division, and you're going to find that we've been working very hard on this." Lincoln finally broke his silence as he leaned forwards. "We've dealt with demons before, Mister Senator. If demons are a proven fact, why is the idea that the king of demons so hard to swallow?"

Senator Carsons did swallow, clearly uneased by that question. "It's a little farfetched, though, and I will not be the only one who believes this. Avatars which span universes? I will need more proof than what you are offering for me to take this to the council."

"It's all we have." Chloe scratched her inner wrist harder and harder as the itch climbed it way higher and higher.

He sighed. "I'm afraid it's not enough." He stood and shook his head. "You will all be escorted to a holding cell, where you will await our deliberation." He opened the door… and hit an invisible wall so hard his nose bled. "What the hell-?"

"Chloe?" Lincoln turned his worried gaze on her immediately.

She turned to him, relieved he wasn't avoiding her gaze any longer, but the look on his face worried her immediately. "What?"

And then everything went to hell.

Chloe didn't remember hitting the ground, it seemed as if she'd blinked and found herself suddenly on the ground, screaming as she gripped at her hair. The lights in the building blinked on and off endlessly, the walls began to crack all around them, as did the ground.

"What's happening?" Senator Carsons yelled over a loud howl, like that of a thousand rivers joining in one.

Chloe could feel it, feel the agony as the last of the bond between her and Peter broke.

It was the worse pain ever imaginable. Millions of voices screamed in her head, the light and the darkness both seared through her as the lights flickered endlessly. It was hard to breathe, the air going frigid, almost solid, with bits of ice which forced their way down her throat every time she tried to breathe.

"Chloe!" Lincoln was there in a flash, holding her up in his lap, eyes wide in horror.

All around them creatures, monsters, appeared, throwing themselves at them yet hitting that invisible dome which had come over them similarly to when Chloe's bond with Lionel was breaking. Except she wasn't alone with her candidate, and with everything that was happening…

"This is your fault!" Jared was yelling at Senator Carsons and his men. "She wasn't able to do what they'd planned because your men arrested! If she dies it's on your hands!"

The dome was surrounded by the monsters, demons, desperate to break through and take advantage of her weakness. They yelled and growled and growled and threw themselves against the barrier, causing Senator Carsons and his detail to back away towards the middle of the room.

"What are these things?" Senator Carsons whispered in horror, very visibly close to wetting himself.

One of the security shot at the monsters, but the bullet hit the barrier and ricocheted back, causing everyone to duck as it bounced dangerously off walls before finally embedding itself into the table.

"Don't  _shoot_  you idiot!" Tess snarled. "Either you'll kill one of us or weaken the barrier and let those things in!"

Everything around Chloe began to dim, the sounds around her distorting as her breathing slowly failed.

"Lincoln, do it!" Gibbs was yelling. "Just do it! Before we lose her!"

Suddenly a bright light exploded somewhere and Senator Carsons screamed. The bullet must've weakened the barrier and let monsters in. There were sounds of fighting, of men screaming, and then suddenly something rushed towards them, looming over Lincoln's back.

It was CeeCee.

"Are you kidding me? She hasn't forge a permanent bond  _yet_?" And yet CeeCee didn't wait for a response, instead falling to her knees and yanking out her stele. "Glasses, I'm going to do something which is really going to hurt her but you've got to let me do it. You hear?"

"If it saves her, do whatever."

CeeCee nodded and searched her body frantically before finally finding a spot without a rune and began burning a design on it with her stele. Even in her dimming world Chloe could make out the Fehuruz. "Okay. Now I need to do this to her. You have to keep her still, Glasses." When he nodded, CeeCee pulled back Chloe's neckline and pressed the tip of her stele against her skin.

It hurt.

It hurt!

It burned unlike anything Chloe had ever felt before!

She struggled, but Lincoln kept her pinned down, allowing CeeCee to finish the design.

And then it was finished.

And then Chloe  _could breathe_.

She gasped in air and sat up. The pain was there, it was still there, the world around her was falling apart, but somehow she was still halfway there. There was also something inside of her, something seeping in…something feeding the Suppressant, which  _glowed_  against her chest.

"CeeCee!" Clary yelled as she appeared by CeeCee's side, watching the blonde who was now gripping her own head, clearly in agony as she screamed. "We have to get you out of here.  _Now_."

"The barrier protects-," Lincoln began.

"There's no safer place than where that portal leads to," Clary hissed, suddenly very scary despite how tiny she was as she helped a screaming CeeCee to her feet. "I'm taking CeeCee there, and I don't know if the Fehuruz works across realities so if you want to give the Adept a chance you're coming with us! Now! I'm  _done_  risking my Gemini for your Adept!"

Chloe could feel herself being scooped up into Lincoln's arms.

"You—you can't just go and leave us here!" Senator Carsons yelled, absolute terror in his tone. "Not with these things!"

That was the last thing Chloe heard before everything went black.

* * *

"We're in an alternate reality," Jared whispered for the tenth time in the same amount of minutes as he stared out of the apartment's windows at what was that reality's Metropolis. "I knew they existed but I never thought I'd ever actually get to see one!"

Gibbs visibly didn't care about the fact that they were in an alternate reality. He kept pacing back and forth, looking towards the door which led to the guest bedroom, where Chloe and Lincoln were in, along with CeeCee and Clary. It was obvious to anyone looking that he wanted to be there too, but even he knew it would be too awkward for him to be present given everything. So that was why he paced.

Senator Carsons had decided to come through the portal as well, even when his men had proved too scared to do so. The man sat by the window Jared was staring out of, and he too stared out, taking in the differences in the landscape of this reality's Metropolis.

Tess… she sat in the loveseat… and stared at the journal in her hands. It'd fallen out of Chloe's clothes when they'd arrived, and Tess had recognized it. This was something Anne would write in whenever she was home, and while Tess had always been curious about what was in it she'd respected Anne's privacy.

 _I'm never going to see her again. I didn't even get to say goodbye_.

Fighting back the emotion that sprung inside of her, Tess breathed out slowly and opened the journal.

**Dear Tess**

Her eyes widened in shock as she saw those first two words.

What was this?

**If you're reading this, it means I've gone back. I don't know if I'm going to have the time to tell you everything I want to, to say my goodbyes, or if I do, I don't know if I'll have the courage to do it. We started… this… knowing it wasn't permanent, that we'd have to say goodbye, and we both put up walls to make sure we weren't destroyed when that happens.**

**I'm a real hypocrite for telling Chloe she needs to be braver, aren't I?**

**I've decided to start this journal, or, well, series of letters, so that you'll know, even if I'm a huge coward in the end.**

**If I am a coward and never actually tell you any of what's written in here, please forgive me.**

**I really wish we'd been from the same reality. I really wish I didn't have to leave. I really wish I could take you with me.**

**I just hope I get the courage to tell you before it's too late.**

**Anne**

Tess closed her eyes and hugged the journal.

_Don't cry. You can't cry. DON'T CRY!_

* * *

Clary was very close to cutting off the Adept's Fehuruz. Through her Gemini bond she could feel echoes of whatever CeeCee felt, and the pain was almost unbearable on her end - CeeCee must be going through  _hell_  right now. And for what? For an Adept too stupid or weak to fix her problems when she had the chance? Even after CeeCee had put herself at risk to give her the Suppressant? The Adept had  _wasted_  that. Clary had no sympathy for her or her situation, and to be honest, she resented the fact that they had to keep going out of their way, making things more difficult for themselves, to help someone who clearly didn't want to help herself.

Here CeeCee was, opening a channel between her and a collapsing mind, when her  _own_  mind was a battlefield. So much crap had happened to CeeCee! First the Block on her mind beginning to crack, then the Silent Brothers' attack on it, then the Block shattering, then the Mirror Spell, and the breaking of the bonds, and its aftermaths, then Raziel's attack on her… Leser had made it clear that with the constant damage to CeeCee's brain she should be so crazy she shouldn't be lucid, much less doing all she was.

And here was another attack debilitating CeeCee's already shattered mind.

If this didn't stop, didn't end, soon… Clary would kill the Adept. CeeCee mightn't forgive her, but Clary had vowed to protect her Gemini, even from herself if need be, and if it came between CeeCee or anyone else, the answer was easy. It was a no brainer.

"How do you know about this?" Glasses asked as CeeCee somehow worked through her pain to prepare him. The Adept had passed out from the pain, so _of course_ CeeCee had to shoulder everything on her own, because the Adept was freaking useless.

"The Fehuruz opens a channel between those using it, it's a healing rune and it's my superior healing abilities that's keeping her from… us from…" CeeCee whimpered and closed her eyes when a wave of pain visibly hit her before she pushed passed it and continued to paint symbols over his bare chest. "The channel that's opened between us… I see things. I think this is what  _she_  sees. It's like I'm in the matrix or something. It's freaky but useful." Her voice was strained. "I can see what needs to be done, there's like a list with very useful diagrams over here." She motioned the air to her right. "There, you're done. I need to finish her up and then you wake her up."

Clary grabbed CeeCee when she stumbled. "Damn it, CeeCee."

"I'm  _fine_." CeeCee started working on the Adept. "You need to wake her up and finish this, quickly. I'm  _barely_  able to hold it back."

"We're losing her, aren't we?" Glasses asked with slight hysteria.

"Yes, but I don't mean that." CeeCee groaned as she reached down and pressed her hand against the rune on part of her mortal scar, Ithuriel's seal. "I mean my body's trying to absorb her."

" _What_?" Glasses' eyes widened. "Why?"

"Maybe it's because two versions of the same people are channeling each other?" CeeCee pushed the words out passed her lips while continuing to work. "I connected us because, well, my body's better equipped to heal and handle what she's going through - if I'd connected her with anyone else they would've both died already. I didn't expect—-then again—-I have a history of absorbing Angelic Grace without meaning to."

Glasses' eyes were permanently wide. "You have Angelic Grace?"

"My ex has it now," she groaned before stumbling back into Clary. "It's done. We have to leave."

"You're lying down." Clary wrapped an arm around her Gemini before turning to glare at Glasses. "Wake her up." She reached into her boot and yanked out a blade, which she slammed onto the bedside table. "Get it done." With that she helped CeeCee out of the bedroom.

Everyone who'd been sitting in the living room stood expectantly.

CeeCee motioned them to sit down as she leaned heavily against Clary. "Put on the television. It's going to be awhile."

"Let me help," the older man declared, and before Clary could snap that she didn't need any help, he'd slipped CeeCee into his arms.

The redhead bit back her frustration. "This way." She led him to the bedroom and closed the door behind them, motioning to the door. "The Adept shouldn't have waited this long. It's  _her_  fault. It's  _all_  her fault."

The man frowned as he lowered a wincing CeeCee into the bed. It only hit Clary then that CeeCee had fainted, yet was still suffering. "Is she going to be okay?"

"No. She won't." Clary folded her arms over her chest as she joined him at CeeCee's side. "Her mind's been hurt, multiple times, this could kill her, or leave her catatonic, or braindead." She could hear the slight hysteria in her voice and hated herself for it, hated that she couldn't call Kal and have him here for emotional support. She needed her boyfriend, wanted him here with her, but she couldn't call him. Couldn't risk the damned Adept. "She already gave the Adept her Suppressant, and now this?" She glared up at the man. "What else are you people expecting of her?"

The man stared down at her before he rested a hand on her shoulder.

It was strangely comforting, and Clary fought the tears, really she did, but she lost out in the end.

* * *

" _Chloe_."

There was pain. Lots of it. But Chloe was able to somehow open her eyes.

Lincoln. It was Lincoln. He was shirtless and covered in the binding symbols. How had he prepared himself? Had she done this before passing out? But the last thing she remembered was the pain in the interrogation room.

"I don't have much time, do I?" Chloe asked softly as she leaned up on her elbows.

Lincoln shook his head from where he sat on the edge of the bed. "Chloe, I—I'm not Peter—but—-."

"Peter's not here, Lincoln, you are." She cleared her throat as she reached up to cup his face. "You've always been here." Somehow the pain leveled her out, helped temper her nerves as she drew him closer.

Lincoln followed slowly, his gaze on her before his eyes finally closed seconds before their lips touched.

Chloe closed her eyes as she caressed his face. When she'd first met Lincoln she never would've thought they'd end up here, back then Peter was definitely the only man she saw, and yet, as Lincoln lowered into bed with her, she pushed all thoughts of Peter aside.

Their bond was broken, so she forged a new one.

Lincoln's kisses were soft, careful, cautious. He had to know what'd happened to her. She'd never told him, never hinted, but he'd figured it out somehow. Probably not the details but enough. It was obvious in his touch, in his kiss, in the way he allow himself to fall onto his side and shift them so that she straddled him instead of him pinning her down, trapping her against the bed.

As she sat astride his body in the nightgown she'd been wearing when Anne had disappeared, Chloe didn't notice the fact that this wasn't a bedroom she recognized, she didn't notice the strange Metropolis outside, she didn't notice the sound of the television loud outside. In fact, as she stared down at Lincoln, she hardly noticed the pain anymore.

He wasn't Peter, that was right, but he didn't  _have_  to be Peter. She'd never wanted him to be. Maybe Anne had seen something she hadn't - hadn't she said to tell Lincoln he didn't have to be anyone but himself? Had Chloe somehow missed that? She probably had. The way she was right now - she missed a lot.

"Lincoln," she whispered softly. "I don't want you to be Peter." She saw the surprise on his face. "Just be yourself."

Something strange passed over his face.

Noticing a blade next to the bedside table, Chloe reached over and cut a slice down her palm, and then the other, drawing blood, and then passed the blade to Lincoln.

He stared at it for a second before doing the same before finally letting the blade tumble from his bloodied hands off of the side of the bed.

Chloe reached for his hands, slipping her fingers through his much longer ones before squeezing, their blood mixing.

Grey eyes met greens, held, and then Chloe slid down and her lips met his.

The whole world went silent.

* * *

Unlike the dome they'd portalled into when CeeCee's feelings of the Adept being in trouble had increased exponentially during the day, the apartment wasn't surrounded by demons or monsters coming after the Adept. This apartment had been warded against everything possible - had been made to keep her safe, keep her hidden, from anyone trying to find her.

Magnus Bane had made the place a fortress, and with the spells and information in the Book of White, CeeCee had made it even more secure. She wasn't worried about demons being able to figure where the energy the Adept was giving off was coming from. Sure, they'd know it was in Metropolis, but there was no way they'd be able to track it to this place.

And then the pain had gone - and the pleasure had appeared. She hadn't thought of this side effect, yet it was much better than the alternative. She'd pick sharing someone's pleasure over their pain any time of the day - then again, she took that back, especially since Clary and Kal always seemed to pick the worse times possible to start getting freaky. Clary and her mightn't share a Fehuruz most of the time, but the Gemini Binding Seal upon their bodies did something quite similar in that respect. And damn it, her Gemini and her boyfriend were like bunnies.

This was the first time feeling someone else who wasn't Clary though, and that distracted her a little. It was weird because this was a version of her. So this could be considered her pleasure.

Whatever it was, it was easier to concentrate on keeping the demonic within her from trying to devour the Adept through their bond. She'd never even thought this could be an issue when she'd runed them, but here she was, fighting the pleasure and the hunger.

Clary, thankfully, was relieved enough that CeeCee wasn't braindead (her words) and was now acting a little more like herself now that her protective mode was disengaged. Her Gemini was being a hostess to the group and trying to distract them from the fact that while CeeCee was there with them, and fine, she was clearly distracted… and flushed.

It was fine. She could be distracted. They were safe here. No one knew anything. No one could find them.

That was why, when there was a knock on the door, CeeCee nearly fell off of her chair. She shared a look with Clary, who was quickly motioning those within to go silent. The blonde stood and went towards the door, peering out of the peekhole, and groaned when the last person she wanted to see was on the other side. She mouthed a name to Clary, whose eyes widened in both annoyance and worry.

Undoing the chains and wards, CeeCee opened the door and slipped out, closing the door behind her, leaving herself trapped between said door and Sebastian Morgenstern. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to see what you and my sister are up to," Sebastian replied easily, a smirk on his face. "Imagine my surprise when I realize the  _power_  that's radiating from your apartment is so... tantalizing…" He rested his hand against the door above her head as he leaned in. "What do you two have hiding in there?"

She should've accounted for Sebastian. That was careless on her part. He wasn't like the others. He was like her. And like her, his life was one large loophole.

"Is whatever is in that apartment the reason you've been messing with mother's sacrifices?" Sebastian asked, and then chuckled, showing teeth, when he saw the shock on her face. "You didn't know I knew about that, did you?" He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "Who do you think has been covering your tracks when you've been sloppy?"

Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat at this terrifying revelation. "Why haven't you ratted us out?"

"Why would I?" He asked curiously.

CeeCee stared up at him in surprise, unable to understand his question. "Because, unlike me, you're the perfect offspring. You don't question her, or her actions, or her motives."

Sebastian's amusement disappeared as he leaned in closer, voice low and dangerous. "Are you calling me a mindless  _follower_?"

"I'm calling you a devoted son," she countered.

"You sure you're not talking about  _Jonny_?" Sebastian asked curiously. "Or Kal maybe?"

Something happened in that bedroom, something that transmitted through CeeCee's link and had her head hitting the door and her lips parting as she breathed heavily. She let out a little sound she wished to all unholy that she could take back.

"Wait." Sebastian's smile disappeared in seconds. "Kal isn't with Clary… so who is she with?" Having a Gemini of his own, Sebastian understood better than anyone else that there was no true privacy between those bonded. "Is she cheating on Kal?" He grinned. "He's going to  _kill_  whoever it is."

"Go away, Sebastian." She licked her lips and gripped the door behind her.

" _Rude._ " He smirked as his pupils dilated slightly. "And here I was going to offer my services to protect the Adept you've got under your sleeve."

CeeCee's eyes widened in horror. How the  _hell_ —-?

"I knew it." He grinned, it was all teeth. "If you don't tell me what you and my little sister are up to, I'm going to tell mother all I know."

He would. Damn it,  _he would_!

Growling, CeeCee, grabbed Sebastian by the shirt and yanked him inside, locking the door behind her. She ignored Clary's wide-eyed horror, and everyone else's concern, and dragged a smirking (and waving) Sebastian to her bedroom before throwing him inside, entering in after, and locking the door behind them.

"If you tell her I'll  _kill_  you." Using the grip she had on Sebastian's shirt, CeeCee threw him up against the door and held him there. "How do you know? This place is warded! You  _cannot_  have sensed her!"

"Abigail." Sebastian reached up and traced his thumb against the rune on her inner wrist. "You forget my sister's mark isn't the only one on you." He gripped her wrist, his hand covering his demonic rune on her. "I needed to know what you were doing and if it would get you two killed. I didn't expect the glimpses I did, and I'm still not quite sure what to make of them, but I'm sure mother might have some ideas if I go to her."

"You can't have the Adept," CeeCee growled at him, pushing him harder against the door. "Neither can  _she_. Either of you  _touch_  her and I'll—-!"

"You think I want the  _Adept_?" Sebastian looked genuinely surprised, and a bit amused. "The only interest I have in her is the fact that  _you_  are interested in her. And, of course, the fact that she looks  _a lot_  like you." He smirked. "You're prettier though."

"We're identical, idiot," she hissed as she let go of him and backed up.

"No, you're not," he countered easily as he leaned against the door, not at all worried about his messed up shirt and jacket. "I'd know you in a room filled with millions of her."

CeeCee eyed him curiously before she shook her head and then suddenly sat down as another jolt of pleasure raced through her. Damn it! This was  _not_  the headspace she needed to be in to deal with Sebastian!

"What do you want with Lucifer?"

Despite being weakened by the pleasure CeeCee still jumped to her feet, eyes wide and heart racing. Just how much had he  _seen_? She'd been so careful!

"Is mother not strong enough for you to follow?" Sebastian tilted his head to the side, his white-blonde hair falling into his face, his expression utterly blank. "Are you looking to serve a new master?"

"I don't serve  _anyone_ ," she hissed, bristling at the thought. "Not when I was a Mundane, nor a Shadowhunter, and least not now!"

Something strange happened between his eyes, yet his expression remained blank. "If you're not looking for Lucifer to serve him, why  _are_  you two searching for him? Why have you teamed up with the Adept? What are you scheming?" When she refused to answer he pushed away from the door and stalked towards her similarly to how he stalked the beings he'd no doubt kill. It was intimidating as hell, but she stood her ground, even as his eyes began to bleed black. "Why do you want to find Lucifer? He's gone, disappeared. Why do you care?"

"Because he's being Strengthened," CeeCee hissed angrily, telling him because despite the fact that she didn't want to this was the only chance she had at keeping him from telling their mother. "He's going to come back."

Sebastian blinked and tilted his head. That was obviously not what he'd expected to hear.

"I'm not going to let him," CeeCee continued rebelliously.

Sebastian's eyes widened as he froze, all the black bleeding out of them until they were green again. "You're going to make sure he stays wherever the hell he's been all this time, aren't you? But why?" And then, staring at her defiant face, Sebastian let out a deep, shocked breath. "No. You're not planning on  _trapping_  him, you're planning on  _killing_  him."  He stared at her with a manic intensity that made it hard to breathe. "You're planning on killing the King of Demons - the demon even the princes worship and fear - you're planning on killing the strongest of them  _all_."

She gulped and raised her chin, readying for whatever he'd do next.

Sebastian took one step towards her, and then another, and then he laughed as he picked her up and twirled her around.

Okay. She'd not been ready for 'whatever he'd do next', she had  _not_  been ready for that! CeeCee held on tightly and squeaked a little as she was twirled before landing back on her feet and staring up into Sebastian's beaming face as he cradled her own in his hands.

"Only  _you_  understand, only  _you_  see," he whispered to himself, not making any sense at all. "Edges. So many edges."

"What are you talking about?" CeeCee asked as she rested her hands on the ones he used to cradle her face.

"Never serve the weak," Sebastian whispered as he rested his forehead against hers while staring into her eyes. "Never serve someone who serves someone else."

She gulped as she stared up into his eyes. "Never  _serve_ , period."

He grinned toothily and chuckled as his grip on her face tightened but not painfully so. "Let's go kill a King."

Staring up into Sebastian's face, seeing the genuine, almost childlike excitement, CeeCee couldn't help her own smile from forming. "Let's."


	13. Chapter 13

Chloe awoke to warmth, as well as slight disorientation. She opened her eyes, trying to remember what exactly had happened, only for the events of the last twenty four hours to come rushing back to her. A blush darkened on her cheeks as she sat up rapidly, pulling up the sheets around her, and then the lack of pain in her hands surprised her. She glanced down at her palms, which she'd sliced open for the ritual, to find the slices completely gone, two designs down her palm where the scars should be.

And then she breathed out slowly and turned her hand around to find the design around her finger gone. Completely gone. Not faded. Not hard to see. Gone. Her bond with Peter was completely broken.

Swallowing down the mix of emotions that rattled her on the inside, Chloe gripped the blankets tighter and glance down at the bed next to her, surprised at the sting she felt seeing it empty. Why had she expected to see Lincoln there? Why was she disappointed he wasn't?

Confused and conflicted, Chloe finally noticed the fact that she did not recognize this room. Where was- _wait_. Hadn't CeeCee appeared? Clary had said something about going through the portal…

Eyes wide, Chloe stumbled out of bed, wrapping the sheets around her as she hurried to the closest window and threw open the curtains to reveal… Alternate Reality Metropolis. Even at first view there were obvious differences between Metropolis, there were buildings that shouldn't be there, and buildings which should've been were missing.

She was in an alternate reality again.

This was the Shadowhunter reality, the one she'd been most intrigued by.

A small smile touched her lips, and then she noticed some clothes flung over the bedside table she'd somehow managed to miss. They looked about her size. They were probably CeeCee's clothes, or at least her old ones, if the accents of color had anything to say about it. Every single time she'd seen CeeCee the girl had been wearing black or dark leather, whereas these clothes reminded Chloe of when she was younger.

And then she paused and really thought about it. Was CeeCee  _younger_  than her? She'd thought the slight differences between them to be Downworlder related somehow, and yet… if she still had these clothes… CeeCee had to be around, what, sixteen? Seventeen? For the soon to be twenty-year-old, the thought was surprising.

So this was not only a reality jump – but a  _time_  jump as well?

Just how powerful  _was_  CeeCee?

Suddenly the world around Chloe shifted as the holographic screen she was used to lifted, more transparent than usual, and with some visible changes. She didn't concentrate on them though, no, instead she concentrated on the holographic portrayal of CeeCee being projected onto the middle of the room, along with various stats accumulating around her.

A line pointed to her demon black eyes, with a note which read:  _Greater Demon – only Greater Demons can affect and control other lesser demons, or affect them physically in any way, as shown during video footage of subject's fight with demon. Sire is named as Lilith in vision – should be impossible as Lilith's curse leaves her unable to have children of her own. Has she managed to circumvent the curse? How? Needs more investigation._

Another line joined three different parts of CeeCee's body, one end pointing to the circle of purple light which glowed sometimes beneath the demon black, another pointed to the ring on her thumb, and the last pointed to the symbol of a broken crown which had appeared very briefly on CeeCee's forehead. The note at the crux read: (1)  _Unseelie Court Royal Ring. Belongs to King Auberon. Shouldn't be on anyone's finger but his. Her possessing it is an anomaly which should be investigated._ (2)  _Unseelie Court Symbol. The broken crown. Royal family. Could account for her owning Auberon's ring. (_ 3)  _Unseelie are known for their dark aura, which, while usually hidden, can be revealed in the eyes, blood (if using the right spell), and other means mostly only known to the Seelie and Unseelie Courts._

A new line spread out, pointing towards different runes partly visible on CeeCee's body, with a note which read:  _Shadowhunter runes. Shadowhunters were created by the Angel Raziel to fight demons. Yet this Shadowhunter is part Greater Demon. Should be an impossibility. Considering royal Unseelie heritage this subject has been FLAGGED. Potential first of kind. New index created for this subject._

More lines pointed to other symbols on her, noting:  _Demonic runes._  Yet the one on her inner wrist read, in red:  _Demonic binding rune. Is one of two. Very powerful. Very rarely used. Connects the two marked, allowing the dominant user certain privileges, which, as of this moment, are uncategorized. First actual live subject with this marking. Should investigate further._

Below CeeCee were some stats, or more like theories:

 **Portal creation – possible Warlock? If so, file should be tentatively linked to Tessa Gray's for further correlations.**  

 **Possible rune creation – Angels should be the only ones capable of this, yet runes not recorded in any Shadowhunter reality file are partially visible on her and on her companion.**  

 **Energy consumption – when linked to Adept, subject strenuously fought against the instinct to consume Adept's energy, both physical and mystical.**  

 **Through link established by a 'Fehuruz' rune, a connection has been made between subject and Adept, and evaluations are continuing. Is interesting. No soul but not soulless.**   **Initial reports are conflictive, must rerun tests. Clearly a Vessel of some sort, though as she is able to keep an item as powerful as the Book of White hidden within her own body.**  

**PROGNOSTIC – murky – too many uncertainties. Subject is, however, clearly dangerous, powerful, unstable, and very powerful.**

Right under that were the words:

**POTENTIAL CANDIDATE.**

Potential candidate for  _what_ , though?

Unlike before, her mind didn't immediately answer her question, but she didn't care, not right now. She was just blown away by just how different her ability was now that she had a permanent Anchor! It hadn't been this way when she'd been linked to Lionel. Not even in the beginning. Was it because this Anchor had been one of her own choosing?

Those questions floated in her mind as she went to the adjacent bathroom, bathed, and then changed into the clothes that had been left her. There were a little loose and a little short, which proved just how much weight she'd lost since she'd become the Adept – and the fact that she'd apparently gotten little taller. Her shoe size hadn't changed though.

Chloe stared at herself and didn't quite recognize herself, although she realized that she wasn't wearing the Suppressant anymore. The chain was there, but the thing itself was gone. She wondered whether it'd disintegrated. The last time she'd seen it it'd been glowing fiercely with the connection between her and CeeCee. Maybe it'd been too much and had overwhelmed it.

Taking in a deep breath, Chloe nodded to her reflection and stepped out of the bathroom, into the bedroom, and went towards the door, inching it open to hear voices. She slipped out of the bedroom and followed the voices to finally find the group, who were in a large living room.

Tess and Jared were still eating, both seated on the loveseat, their attention on Clary, who'd clearly just finished saying something while she paced back and forth in the middle of the room.

Gibbs – dad – was there too. He wasn't eating, but had a glass of something that was most probably alcohol of some sort in his clenched hand. He too was eyeing Clary.

Lincoln had his back to Chloe, and seated next to him was… was that Senator Carsons?!

CeeCee sat on a comfy looking chair, and seated on the armrest of that chair was a handsome guy Chloe had never seen before. He was lean yet muscular, runes covering his body, betraying him as a Shadowhunter. His eyes were green, the same green as CeeCee's, and his hair shockingly white-blonde. Was this the brother CeeCee had mentioned? He clearly was close to her, the two of them visibly comfortable with each other.

He was the only one who'd noticed Chloe's entrance. He didn't let the others know though, instead he quietly observed Chloe, and she couldn't help but feel that he found her lacking. She wasn't sure why she felt that way, maybe it was the slight downturn of his lips and the rise of his eyebrows as he gave her a subtle once-over. He then glanced over at CeeCee, more obvious in his once-over, and then he returned that green gaze to Chloe.

"While Miss Morgenstern's worries are very valid – and I'd like to talk to you about those later if that's okay with you – I believe that an alliance between worlds would be helpful for the both of us." That was Senator Carsons, who was talking either to CeeCee or the newcomer seated next to her. "There are resources we can trade, knowledge we can share, and if there truly is a danger of… Lucifer… returning to destroy the worlds we should be united in fighting him. An alliance, and an ability to communicate and share information between worlds, would be beneficial to all."

Wait. Who'd convinced Senator Carsons that Lucifer was  _actually_  a threat? How had he gone from 0 to 100 so quickly? The last time she'd talked to him he'd not only thought she was ridiculous for saying that, but he'd wanted to block all access to other realities! So what had changed his tone so quickly and drastically?

"There are things you don't want knowing your reality exists, that's just asking for someone, or something, to open up a pathway," CeeCee rubbed her head, voice strained, clearly experiencing some sort of headache. "In this reality demons can travel through worlds and  _do_  do so, destroying them until not even plant-life can survive on what remains."

"World, not reality," Senator Carsons countered, proving he'd been getting some sort of lesson during Chloe's sleep. "Do you know for a fact they can jump  _realities_ and not just the worlds in  _yours_?"

"They crossed over when I made a portal though," CeeCee reminded him. "So even though it's rare, it's possible."

"It might be a possibility only you can make happen though," the blonde male drawled as his eyes slowly traced the features of her face. "I've never heard of a demon being able to cross over realities. I didn't even know there  _were_ other realities. You're part Fae, and it is rumored that the Seelie Queen has dominion over a special place of hidden portals she guards zealously… what Valentine did to you might account for your ability."

CeeCee looked up at him in surprise while still rubbing her temples. "You think?"

Even Clary, who seemed to be constantly in a state of worry and disapproval, blinked in surprise, looking intrigued. "That would actually make sense. I mean, it's just a theory, but it's a solid one."

"Of course it is," the blonde replied smoothly before eyeing CeeCee oddly. Not brotherly. This wasn't her brother, right? But even if it wasn't it made CeeCee's comment about blonde guys and redheaded women being a stereotype even more understandable.

**_Should she be sleeping this long?_ **

Chloe's eyes widened as she turned towards Lincoln, surprised at his change of topic, but no one else had even acknowledged his words.

 ** _I don't like leaving her there by herself, but I don't want to spook her or make her feel uncomfortable. After everything that's happened to her – I've got to give her space, I can't loom in too much or she'll panic. She's been – she deserves better, so much better – but Peter._** There was a dark groan.  ** _I'm never going to be able to do this as seamlessly as he did! I don't even know if it's better to let her wake up by herself or to be there! Is it rude for me to have left her there or would it be creepy for her to wake up and find me there watching her?_**

It was then, as she watched the side of Lincoln's face, that Chloe realized he wasn't talking. His face was drawn up in a concerned, conflicted expression as he stared down at his palms, which, similarly to Chloe, bore that line of symbols instead of scars.

Was he— _thinking_?

Was she –  _hearing his thoughts_?

Chloe's eyes widened even further.

Yet another thing that hadn't ever happened before! She hadn't even known this was a possibility!

"Honey." That was dad. He was on his feet and suddenly Chloe was in his arms as he hugged her tightly. "You had a worried, kiddo. I thought…" His tightening his arms around her proved what he'd thought.

"I'm fine, dad." Chloe hugged him back with a smile. "Better than fine, actually."

"Yeah?" Gibbs pulled away and stared down at her as if trying to tell whether she was lying to him or not.

"Yeah." She smiled up at him. "I feel better than I have in a  _very_  long time."

"Good." He finally let go and cleared his throat as he led her to sit next to him. "We've been getting caught up while you've rested."

"I see." Chloe's gaze skimmed on Senator Carsons, who looked quite at home in the alternate reality, before allowing her gaze to rest on Lincoln.

 ** _Don't be weird. Don't make this weird. She doesn't need you to make this weird_**.

Lincoln smiled at her, not at all revealing the turmoil in his mind. "How are you feeling now? How's the head?"

"Fine," Chloe whispered, surprised at the disconnect between his mind and actions. Had he always been like this? Had she just never seen just how hard he tried? She'd thought everything came so effortlessly to him. "It doesn't hurt at all."

"Lucky you," CeeCee muttered as she continued to rub her temples. "I have a migraine that won't go away."

Clary let out a deep breath while visibly chewing on her inner cheek in an effort to keep herself from saying something.

"You helped save me," Chloe realized, shaken, as she sat down. "How did you know I was in danger?"

"I kept feeling something was wrong, and then…" CeeCee lifted her wrist, not the one with the demonic binding rune, but this one had a symbol as well – the same one on Chloe. "This burnt itself on me and I could see… I don't know… Clary and I worked  _really_  hard to make another portal to you using your rune as a beacon. We barely made it in time to stabilize you enough for extraction – and to give you and Glasses here a chance to fix the issue in privacy instead of with an audience while you were half-dead."

Chloe blushed darkly at the realization that if CeeCee and Clary hadn't done what they had she  _would've_  had to do that in front of other people – her father included. She owed them  _so much_  by now that the debt was terrifying to contemplate.

"I must apologize, Agent Gibbs," Senator Carsons sighed as he eyed her, ignoring the  _other_  Agent Gibbs in the room. "When you came to me with the danger of an upcoming apocalypse I did not take you seriously. You were right in keeping your actions to yourself, and when I return to our reality I will have all charges against you and your colleagues lifted. All record of the suspicion on them will be expunged. And I will have a very long conversation with the council – we cannot be a hindrance to the safety of our reality. We will have to come to accept that there will be things – dangers – clearly over our ability of understanding."

Chloe just  _stared_  at the man. Just what in the  _world_  had happened while she'd been asleep? She tried not to look so dumbfounded when she cleared her voice and assured him: "I accept your apology."

"Thank you." Senator Carsons nodded as he sat straighter in his seat. "Your team, and Miss Morgenstern and Miss Wayland, have filled me in on everything that you have been jointly working on. It is both impressive and terrifying to say the least."

"Before we got sidetracked with the inter-reality communication topic, I was telling your team about my impending trip to try and find Mazikeen," CeeCee announced, still rubbing her temples. "It's why the portal to your world was already halfway completed. We'd planned on returning to bring you over – your team just ended up coming over as well since it really wasn't safe to leave them there with the dome and your reality's nasties – especially when they were handcuffed."

"I saw your interactions with Lindsey," Chloe admitted, a little relieved this seemed to surprise CeeCee. "The rune let me. So I know that Mazikeen will have information on Lucifer, and that's she's very dangerous." She leaned forwards in her seat. "My mind is still settling, everything rearranging, and I'm still not sure how to operate this," she tapped her temple, "but I can try and find any references to Mazikeen you might need."

"I'd really appreciate that," CeeCee responded immediately, perking up a little. "Once we have more concrete information on her Sebastian and I will go and pay her a visit. We still have to wait, though, I mean, the only places I know for sure where she'll be are related to certain festivals which only happen at certain times of the year."

'Sebastian', the blonde guy, had started grinning brightly the second CeeCee mentioned he'd be joining her Mazikeen search.

Clary rolled her eyes. "Stop looking so excited."

"You know I love a good hunt," he responded.

"Why Sebastian and not Clary?" Tess wanted to know, finally breaking her silence. "From what I understand, Clary and CeeCee are some sort of bonded fighting team, so why isn't Clary going with you?"

"Normally I would," Clary assured her. "But my brother's… more equipped for a hunt." She raised an eyebrow. "And I have to stay here to make sure you guys are safe. There isn't a ward I can't bypass or a sigil I can't fortify. Plus, CeeCee will be drawing from me, it helps if I'm not injured as well. Also, if something happens to them, someone is going to need to go and get reinforcements… and deal with  _someone's_  Gemini when he comes around wanting to know where his dumbass partner is and why he's getting hurt."

Sebastian ignored her pointed glare. "I've handled that, actually."

"What did you  _do_?" CeeCee and Clary each gave Sebastian such a dark and distrusting glare that it took Chloe back. Were they friends with Sebastian or not?

With that a knock sounded on the door.

Clary hurried to her feet, let out a little whimper when she saw who was on the other side of the door, and then glared daggers and Sebastian before finally opening it to reveal two guys standing there.

One boy was blonde, and he had one blue eye while the other was half blue and half brown.

The other boy was…

" _Clark_?" Chloe asked in surprise as they entered, the door closing behind them.

Clark froze and looked between Chloe and CeeCee. "Why are there two of you?"

The other guy looked just as dumbfounded. "Sis? Did you have a twin I was never told about?" His voice broke in panic at the very thought.

"No, you idiot, that's the Adept." Sebastian rolled his eyes. "That's why I told you, Jonny, that mom can't know. Imagine if she found out the Adept is a different version of Abigail."

Jonny went pale. "I see."

Clark wrapped his arms around Clary and pulled her in close. "There aren't two versions of  _you_ , are there?"

The redhead snorted. "You  _wish_."

"I can't believe you told them," CeeCee growled at Sebastian.

"I can't believe you  _didn't_!" Jonny snapped as he stormed towards her. "What part of: 'you're my sister, I'm here to protect you', didn't you  _get_?"

She flinched. CeeCee actually flinched. And looked guilty. She lowered her gaze as she sighed. "I didn't want to put you in a position where you'd feel like you had to choose between me or her. I didn't want to do that to you, Jonny, not after all she's done for you."

Jonny's anger quickly subsided as he reached out and pulled her in close, hugging her tightly, protectively, while resting his chin on the top of her head. " _Idiot_."

CeeCee smiled, genuinely smiled, and hugged him back.

As she watched them, Chloe couldn't help but feel a bit envious. She'd always wanted an older brother, but she hadn't been the version of herself to get one. Instead she was getting a glimpse into what life might've been for her if she'd had one.

"Not that this isn't all heartwarming and everything," Clark drawled from where he was, arms tightly around Clary, most definitely staking his claim to the males in the room. "But I heard there's a hunt involved, and if I'm being honest, I thought Clary's skulking around might mean she was cheating on me so I've got all sorts of pent up aggression I need letting out."

Clary's eyes widened in horror as she peered back up at him. "I would  _never_  cheat on you, you idiot!"

He smirked yet didn't say anything.

"Well, the hunt for Mazikeen isn't going to happen yet, we still have a while for that," CeeCee informed him as she and Jonny finally pulled apart. "You'll have to find other ways of relieving your tension, and I'm sure you two assholes will figure something out."

Clark grinned slyly.

So did Clary.

CeeCee merely rolled her eyes and mumbled darkly under her breath about horn-dog Geminis.

Senator Carsons cleared his throat, bringing the topic back to something more appropriate. "I suppose there is nothing that can be done right now."

"Actually," Chloe countered, and suddenly all eyes in the room were on her. She cleared her throat, still hating being the center of attention. "There was something I was going to say before you dismissed everything I was saying and told us we'd be locked up pending a tribunal hearing."

Senator Carsons had the grace to look very embarrassed and contrite.

"I made a deal back in my reality, which was the reason my division and I were handcuffed when you guys came for us." Chloe shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I let a certain group leave containment in exchange for information which had to do with 'a light which would destroy the world'."

"Lucifer, the light-bearer," Jonny whispered, making the connection very quickly.

"Exactly," Chloe agreed, deciding then and there to get to know the brother she might've had had things been different. "My source told me that the Mother of All was the one who'd prophesied about the light that would destroy the worlds, so I traded their freedom for all information about her and her prophecy. I discovered that she's Eve."

"Eve." Lincoln's voice was choked. "As in the First Woman?"

"Yes." Chloe was still trying to digest that news herself. "And I also discovered that she's in Purgatory."

"Purgatory is real." Jared looked very shaken about that. "I've got to change certain things in my life right now."

Senator Carsons appeared to be in agreement with Jared.

"Actually, Purgatory is a place for the souls of monsters who have died, it's not meant for humans at all," Chloe was quick to explain. "God created it as a place to imprison the Mother of All, as well as other extremely powerful ans dangerous creatures which would've destroyed the world had they been free." She cleared her throat. "Eve is a  _very_ ancient and powerful being, able to pierce through Purgatory enough to send messages to the Alphas of the monsters. That's how she's telling them to hide from what's coming, but she hasn't told them anything other than the light will destroy the worlds."

"We can't really do much with that information," Tess announced softly, disappointedly.

"So we go straight to the source," Sebastian declared as he stood, that sly smile on his face as he yanked out a blade from… somewhere… and sliced it across the air. "We should meet this Mother of All and ask her ourselves."

"She said it isn't meant for humans though." And then Clary's eyes widened. "Ah. Riiiiiiiight. Nephilim, ET, Hybrids, Adept and Anchor. All technically 'other'. It could work."

"I'm not letting you go to  _Purgatory_ ," Gibbs declared in horror as he stared at Chloe.

"Dad, I  _have_  to go," Chloe pressed, having known he'd object to this.

"What if you get stuck there?"

"There's a way out for humans," Chloe hurried on to assure him. "It was a backdoor entrance that was made just incase a human got trapped inside of Purgatory. I know where it is. I'm the only one who can lead them out once we find the Mother of All and get all the information we need out of her."

"But Clary just said-," Jonny began.

"I'm human. No matter what else I am, that still remains true. It'll let me through." Chloe took in a deep breath. "And Purgatory isn't a place for Angels or Demons, that's where Hell and Heaven come in."

"Kal isn't any of that," Sebastian pointed out lazily.

"Where Clary goes, I go," Clark (Kal?) responded immediately.

"Not if it means you getting trapped in there!" Clary snapped.

"There's a ritual, just in case – we can get him out." Chloe frowned at the information she'd gleaned from John Scott's head. "It'll hurt though, for the both of you."

Kal and Clary nodded they were willing.

Chloe turned to Tess, who was clearly just as unhappy with this as her father was. "I'm going to need you to protect Senator Carsons while I'm gone. Make sure he's safe, please."

Tess nodded. "Of course, ma'am."

Chloe then turned to her father. "You and Lincoln-."

"I'm going too," Lincoln interrupted as he stood.

Chloe opened her mouth to tell him there was no way in hell she'd allow him to put himself in danger like that.

**_There's no way in hell she's going to put herself in danger like that! Not with me to watch her back at least! I don't trust these people, I don't know these people, and even if I did, I'm her Anchor now, aren't I? I'm supposed to be there for her. I_ ** **_will_ ** **_be there for her. Whether she thinks I'm a nuisance or not!_ **

Chloe stared up at Lincoln's defiant expression, at the way he visibly prepared for a fight. Her voice was soft as she spoke: "Okay."

His eyes widened. "O-okay?"

She nodded.

He smiled and then cleared his throat. "Good. Yes. It's settled then."

"No, it's not," CeeCee countered with a shake of her head. "Someone from my team needs to stay behind too. If something goes wrong we need someone from this reality who knows who to go to for help."

"I vote Clary," Jared joked as his hand shot up in the air.

Kal raised an eyebrow. "You like having that hand attached to your body?" he asked casually.

Jared's hand lowered immediately.

"I agree with him," Sebastian surprised them all by saying.

" _What_?" Clary and Kal snapped simultaneously.

"Clary, you're the only one with a runic skill level high enough to actually be able to  _do_  something should we get trapped in there." Sebastian turned his green gaze on his sister, his expression solemn. "I'm not saying you are not a valuable fighter, you have learnt a lot under our tutelage, but like Abigail, your true skill lies in your stele. You're Abigail's Gemini, you know things only the two of you know. If anyone could find a loophole to get us out it'd be you – and you're also the only one who could find us by using the connection between the two of you."

"He's right," Jonny agreed. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth." He hesitated, and then, when CeeCee was distracted scowling at Sebastian, he leaned towards Clary and softly added: "And, if things go spectacularly badly… you're the only one _she_  would allow in without an invitation."

Clary's face immediately went blank, all protest gone. She sighed, glanced towards CeeCee, and then turned to Jonny and nodded.

"So, what's the plan, Adept?" Sebastian wanted to know, an arm around CeeCee's shoulder, eyes expectant, seeming oblivious to the surprised looks on his friends' faces. "How do we get in?"

Everyone else turned to look at her expectantly as well.

Clearly her throat, a little nervous, Chloe stumbled as she tried to collect herself and not make an utter fool of herself.

**_You can do it. Just calm down, collect yourself. This is just like debriefing. You've got this._ **

Her green eyes found Lincoln's grey and she smiled softly before taking in a very deep breath and nodded. "The ritual to get in doesn't matter, we need to have an idea of what we'll be coming up against while up in there. Remember, Purgatory is a large prison for creatures so powerful God had to cage them - which means he himself had problems controlling them."

Sebastian and Jonny shared excited looks before high-fiving each other over CeeCee's head. They were obviously very excited at the thought of coming across these creatures, of fighting them.

Clary and CeeCee rolled their eyes at their brothers' eagerness - clearly they were the saner of the two pairs of Gemini.

"We also know how we can help from over here," Jared surprised them by pipping up. "We mightn't be able to go there, but there's got to be something we can do."

"Yes." Senator Carsons agreed. "I do not plan on sitting down and not doing anything either. Just say the word, Agent Gibbs."

 ** _See? You can do this. Just have faith in yourself_**.

Taking Lincoln's unknown advice, Chloe squared her shoulders, raised her chin, and took command.

* * *

Peter just stared at the scene of the crime. Everything was upturned but nothing was rattled enough to prove that something so monumental had happened here. He looked down at his design-less hand and breathed heavily as he rubbed his other hand over it.

When he'd awoken to the pain he'd been terrified. Something had been wrong. Somehow he'd known the bond wasn't being transferred, it was being  _broken_. Which meant she hadn't found a replacement before their bond had completely broken.

He'd killed her.

Peter slammed his fist into the wall and fought the darkness filing him.

He'd thought he was saving her - forcing her to step out of the comfort he provided her and give her the push to find the person who would - could - save her. And yet he'd killed her. He should've stayed with her! Damn it! He should've been here!

Maybe he could've stopped whatever had happened to get the whole team arrested - could've kept her from dying!

" _Fascinating_ ," Walter whispered to himself as he eyed a two-way mirror.

"It's a mirror, Walter," Peter replied a little harsher than he needed to. "There's nothing special about it."

He still couldn't understand what had happened here, and if the way everyone was acting was anything to go by, they didn't either. Had Chloe  _exploded_  and killed everyone?

From what he'd been told - very reluctantly - a dome of some sort had come over the room, after which they're been attacked by demons, and then… and then some explosion of light which fried everything electrical in the building… and then, when the light was gone, so was everyone in the room except for a few security men, who were shaken up and not saying anything useful, all clearly in shock. They'd said something about Senator Carsons running into the light, and Chloe splitting into two.

 _I should've never left you_.

Peter closed his eyes and ran his hand down his face.

"Peter, Peter, are you okay?" Walter asked curiously, not seeming to understand what was wrong with Peter, why this would affect him like this. "It isn't like the Adept hasn't travelled before, maybe not this one, but how else are they to collect data?"

And then, suddenly, Peter yanked his hand down as his body froze, every instinct in him on high alert. "You think she's alive."

"Isn't it obvious?" Walter wanted to know as he pointed to the two-way mirror once more. "Look at the edges." He then started spouting out something rapidly that Peter couldn't really catch. "Very faint. Reminds me of when you were kid." He laughed. "You remember that road trip we went on when you were eight? You complained the whole way. Were utterly miserable!" He laughed some more and shook his head.

"Walter, what are you talking about?" Peter joined his father's side as he eyed the two-way mirror, trying to see what Walter was pointing to, but he honestly couldn't see anything.

"I'd told you to bring something along to read, but you were always so stubborn, stuck in your ways, you get that from me." Walter reached out with his hand towards the edge of the mirror… and all the hairs on his arm stood on end.

Peter's eyes widened.

"Do we have ice cream at home?" Walter suddenly asked as he turned his back on the mirror. "I want some." He rubbed his tummy. "Really want some. Can we have? I haven't had really  _good_  ice cream in a long time. They only gave you really cheap stuff back at—-."

"What? Yes. Sure. Whatever you want. When we get back." Peter fought back his irritation as he motioned to the mirror. "Why did it react to you like that? What happened with that?"

"Huh?" Walter looked back behind him in confusion before his eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. Right." He chuckled and turned to face the two-way mirror once more. "You were such an impatient kid, never could keep still. Then again, your mind was always working. Shows you got my brains."

Considering Walter had been a psychiatric hospital all these years, Peter was forced to bite back his initial reaction to that comment.

"Since you couldn't find anything to write in…" Walter leant in and breathed on the mirror… revealing a handprint and half of a symbol which seemed to have been drawn on the mirror itself.

Peter hurried to his father's side and breathed on the mirror, revealing more and more symbols, incredibly intricate ones which were visibly fading away, disappearing slowly without a trace.

" _Travel_ ," he whispered to himself. "She didn't die… the security detail said Senator Carsons ran into the light - they didn't mean into the explosion - they meant into some sort of  _portal_." He turned to his father. "She's alive. She's just not  _here_!"

He looked down at his hand. It gave every indication she was dead, and yet… They'd said Chloe had  _split in two_ , and he could ether take it literally, or deduce that that meant that another version of Chloe had come through the portal to take this one, and if she had… it meant that somehow,  _somehow_ , Chloe was alive.

Somewhere.

Letting out a deep breath of relief, Peter placed his hand on the mirror and stared at his own reflection.

 _I'll find you_ , he promised Chloe.  _I brought you back once, I'll bring you back again_.

Walter turned to him. "Ice cream now?"

Peter sighed and nodded. "Okay. Let's get ice cream."

* * *

"I can't believe you're taking orders from someone." Kal leaned in the darkest corner, hands over his chest, expression betraying his dislike of this plan.

"I'm not taking  _orders_ ," Sebastian snorted as he shifted to lean against the wall next to Kal, his gaze on the group. "For now we need the Adept, she has information which would be very difficult for us to get on our own without raising any suspicions. I'm  _using_  her."

"Your mother can never know we kept this from her," Kal muttered darkly. "She'd want the Adept and would never forgive us for keeping her from her." He eyed the Adept. "I'm still not sure we shouldn't just get all we need from her, and then hand her in."

" _No_." Sebastian shook his head, voice resolute. "I promised Abigail we wouldn't harm her little Adept."

Kal's lips twitched. "Still trying to get her forgiveness for pretending to be Jace that one time in Wayland Manor, huh?"

"She holds a grudge like none other," Sebastian mumbled, clearly unhappy, before he shook his head and glanced over towards where Abigail and Seraphina - or Chloe and Clary as they preferred to be called - were in deep conversation with the Adept and  _her_  redhead.

Jonny eased over to where Sebastian and Kal were and stood facing them. "How long are we planning on playing along with this? I mean, sure, Purgatory sounds like loads of fun" the three boys grinned at the very thought "but this brings a whole crap full of other problems."

"We're going to play nice," Sebastian informed both Jonny and Kal. "They're aiming for Lucifer. Imagine." He could barely hold in his excitement. "He's the only demon higher up than Asmodeus and Lilith. If we topple him—-."

"They have all the power, permanently," Jonny agreed. "And we don't have to worry about some ancient Angel with a grudge coming along and screwing everything." His fists clenched. "I nearly lost my sister the last time one of those were around."

"Exactly." Sebastian nodded, having known this would be enough to get Jonny to join their side fully despite his extreme loyalty to Lilith, who had not only saved his father and him, but had raised him and trained him as if he were her own. "And when it's done the Adept will go back to her own reality and we hopefully never have to even hear about her again."

"Are you not even slightly tempted to keep her?" Kal wanted to know, proving he  _was_  tempted. "We could use the knowledge the Adept has. It'd give us a big advantage in… the future."

Sebastian glanced over at the Adept and sneered before returning his attention to his comrades. "She goes back, Kal. They all do. You don't want her influencing Abigail, do you?"

Jonny flinched. "What do you mean?"

Kal frowned. "I hadn't thought of that, but you're right. She's always been very stubborn, and if anyone could put thoughts in her mind, it would be herself."

Sebastian nodded. "We play nice with the Adept, we have fun in Purgatory, we kill ourselves a Demon King, and then we kick the Adept and her friends back to their reality before she has the chance to ruin anything for us."

Kal and Jonny shared looks before nodding their agreement.

They didn't need the Adept coming in and ruining what they'd spent so long forging, cultivating.

As soon as she wasn't needed, she needed to go.

A muscle jumped in Kal's cheek.

_One way or the other._

* * *

Chloe watched the group working together and couldn't help but feel overwhelmed yet excited. Senator Carsons was very involved, which was good as it would take a while for CeeCee and Clary to get the energy to open the portal back. It was best he kept busy.

Dad was going to be an issue. She could tell he still wasn't happy with not being a part of the group to go to Purgatory, and if he ever discovered that she'd kept hidden that  _technically_  a human  _could_  go to Purgatory - just that they weren't meant to go to Purgatory - well, it wouldn't be very good at all if he  _or_  Tess found out!

Both Chloe's and CeeCee's group were integrating. That was good. If things worked out they might be able to work closer in the future.

If they pulled off saving the world, that is.

Her gaze landed on Lincoln, who was finishing talking to Jared, who went over to where Gibbs was.

Chloe cleared her throat and moved to Lincoln's side. This would be the first time they'd spoken to each other since they'd, uh.

A blush tinted her cheeks. "Hey."

"Hey." His eyes widened as he stared down at her. "You're, uh, you're doing really great."

She smiled up at him, knowing she'd have to tell him soon that she got snippets of his thoughts, but for right now she merely cleared her throat, took in a deep breath, and hugged him.

Lincoln froze before slowly, carefully, wrapping his arms around her.

**_Not too tight. Don't make her feel trapped. Let her see she can get away if she wants to - that she's in control of this. That you won't hurt her._ **

She smiled into his shirt. "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked oddly.

"For being you."

He sputtered, clearly embarrassed and speechless, yet his fingers curled a little more securely around her.

There was a lot that was happening to Chloe, they were going to travel to Purgatory and go after Lucifer himself for crying out loud! But as she stood there, in Lincoln's very careful arms, Chloe had a very good feeling about everything.

They could do this.

They  _could_.

**_This is really nice._ **

She smiled brighter and hid her face in Lincoln's shirt.

She'd tell him about the whole reading his thoughts… later.


End file.
